


Need the Sun to Break

by MightyLauren



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Masturbation, NaNoWriMo, Pining, Post-Canon, Rebuilt GAIA, Reunion, Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-01-22 11:40:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 91,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12480756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MightyLauren/pseuds/MightyLauren
Summary: It's been two years since the battle for the Spire, and with GAIA's help Aloy is on the verge of bringing the Zero Dawn network back online, giving GAIA control over the terraforming system again.Once accomplished, Aloy would finally be free to leave the ruins she's been stuck living in. The first destination to come to mind? Meridian.----Not much has changed for Erend in the two years since Aloy left him behind and never looked back. He's still Captain of the Vanguard. He's still drinking. He's still miserable and alone. He figures there isn't much of anything that could change that.He couldn't be more wrong.





	1. Introduction

First, as I'm sure you've figured out, this is not an actual chapter at all. If anything we will call this post a statement of intent.

 

**Starting November 1st (one week from now) I will begin writing this story as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).**

 

For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is a month long writing challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days during the month of November. I've done this several times and in fact consider it the boot camp that trained me to write fast enough to write [After the Shadows Pass](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10543552) in six months like I did.

This will however be the first time I do fanfic for NaNoWriMo and also the first time I publish the work as the month progresses. Not sure how well this will go, we'll have to find out together!

 

** About the Story **

This is a fic that's been tickling at the back of my mind for a while, but with AtSP and it's resulting series I had no idea if/when I would find the time to write it. Enter NaNoWriMo.

 

Some things about the story:

  1. Note the rating. This is not AtSP. The rating could go up it will not go down. This is for adults and will have some adult themes involved.
  2. It will still be chaptered. I considered just posting what I wrote each day before bed regardless is plot rhythm, but I know myself. There will be days I write an entire chapter (2 days of word count towards 50k) and other days where I write only a paragraph. So instead I will post as a chapter is completed.
  3. Tags will update as I go.
  4. As this is a speed writing exercise editing may be rough but I will polish as best I can before posting.
  5. I have no idea if 50k words is enough to tell the story in my head, so I might have to finish it after NaNoWriMo ends.
  6. This story will be as much about Aloy's relationship with GAIA as it is about her return to Meridian and the reception she receives when she gets there.
  7. I have limited notes & outlines for this, but the most important note is as follows:



**GAIA is to Aloy as JARVIS is to Iron Man**

If that doesn't get you excited for a rebuilt GAIA then I don't know what will!!

PS - I apologize in advance for the state Erend is in when this story begins. But for you angst lovers it should be fun. ;-)

 

**Feel free to post any questions in the comments and I will reply to them.**


	2. I'm Halfway Gone

Aloy squinted in the darkness, peering through the open compartment door into the next section of the GAIA back-up facility that needed to be restored. At her back was a fully lit, fully powered room. The light from it cast a rectangle of light with her silhouetted in it across the floor through the door.

From a tool pouch at her hip, Aloy fished out a headlamp, stretching the elastic band out to attach it over her red hair, which after two years of near unchecked growth now reached well down her back. With a click of a switch, the headlamp flickered to life, and she stepped through into the next room.

“Alright GAIA,” she said, looking around the fully enclosed, utilitarian looking room. “Where am I going?”

Her Focus display popped on, highlighting items in the room. Her eyes moved along the wires running along the walls and ceiling, and on to the door that led to the next section beyond, which was still sealed.

_‘There is an electrical panel on the right hand wall,’_ GAIA informed her.

Suddenly this box was highlighted bright yellow on Aloy’s display, nestled behind what appeared to be a desk, upon which a dead monitor sat. Aloy slid this aside, resting a hip on the edge of the desk top.

No longer did Aloy don garb that could be associated to any surviving tribe. Instead, she was wearing clothing acquired from within the very facility she was living in. Fabric pants that were loose, and tied with a tie at the top, as well as a long tunic like top with a V neck front. It reminded her often of how she had always seen Elisabet Sobeck dressed in the images she had seen of the scientist.

She swung open the metallic cover to the panel and peered in. Inside all the wires and fuses were highlighted different colors as Aloy viewed them through the Focus.

_‘Connections both here and here are in need of repair.’_

Blinking indicators pointed out exactly where GAIA meant.

“Looks like the wires have completely deteriorated at the connection and broke off,” Aloy said. “We’re going to have to solder them back into place.”

Without waiting for a response, Aloy doubled back out of the room and back into the already powered section of the facility to retrieve the soldering iron.

It had been nine months since Aloy had managed to transfer GAIA’s consciousness from the Prime facility in the North to this incomplete back up facility in the South. Nine months of working section by section slowly bringing the facility to life with GAIA’s technical guidance. This after spending well over a year living in the frigid Prime facility resurrecting GAIA to begin with.

At least it was warmer at the Southern facility, Aloy thought ruefully as she retrieved the tools she needed and returned to the darkened compartment.

Tinted goggles protected her eyes from the light and sparks as she used small amounts of molten metal to reconnect the wires to the motherboard with in.

When she’d begun her venture to bring back GAIA and get the Zero Dawn terraforming system back in hand, Aloy hadn’t exactly known what she was getting into. She had been thinking in weeks, not months and most certainly not YEARS. Yet here they were, two years beyond the battle at the Spire, and she hadn’t managed to reach her goal yet.

Aloy was growing weary and tired of the grind.

“One down, one to go,” she informed GAIA, unnecessarily as the artificial intelligence saw everything she did through her focus.

_‘Excellent.’_

Aloy had lost track of the number of tiny wires she’d spliced back together in the past couple years. It was second nature by now, she soldered things almost daily, held things in place with careful fingers to reassemble what felt like and endless number of connections.

“Alright, that should do it, why don’t you-.”

_‘Running diagnostics.’_

“Thank you,” Aloy said, sitting the soldering iron aside on the dusty desk she was half perched on once more.

_‘Diagnostics tests complete. Connections SAT. Attempting to boot.’_

The lights in the compartment flickered on, as did a number of the computers around her, screens flickering to life. Aloy breathed a sigh of relief as she gathered her tools, removed her headlamp, and stowed the tinted goggles.

“We’ll unseal the door to the next section tomorrow I think,” she said, glancing at it.

_‘Whatever you like, Aloy.’_

“Right now, I’d like dinner I think,” Aloy said, ducking through the door. She wended her way through the live sections of the facility, passing through several compartments before turning into a stairwell to climb to the second floor where the control room was.

Feeding herself while living months on end in abandoned facilities of the Ancient Ones had proven tricky at first. Fortunately they had found and refurbished a food synthesizer upon reaching the Southern facility.

_‘Query: Would you like Brunswick stew tonight?’_

“Sounds delicious,” Aloy said, though she likely would have agreed to anything from the synthesizer’s limited options. “Whip it up.”

The control room was essentially the brains of the facility, and if she was honest, the brain of GAIA herself. Stepping inside the space was admittedly a calming experience for Aloy nearly every time. The relaxing hum of all the computers that kept GAIA running was something she had grown used to. She went to a tool chest up against the wall opposite the bank of monitors and deposited her tools, even unhitching the tool pouch from around her and tossing it inside before closing the lid.

_‘Another productive day.’_

Aloy nodded, proceeding to the small kitchenette she’d set up. This was a water dispenser and the food synthesizer set up on a desk in the corner. The synthesizer was already flashing to indicate the meal was complete within.

“It was yes,” Aloy agreed, as she retrieved the piping hot bowl of stew. “How many sections left?”

The bank of monitors flashed to life. Aloy crossed the room slowly so as not to spill, then slid into a high backed computer chair facing the displays, which were showing a schematic of the facility. Most of the sections were highlighted green, completed and powered.

_‘Three sections to restore, and then we’ll be able to bring the network back online.’_

Aloy scooped a spoonful of the stew up, blowing on it to cool it. “How did the pings go today? For the Minerva towers?” As Aloy drained the spoon, the monitors shifted again, this time to a view of Earth, peppered with Spires like the one in Meridian.

_‘Ping backs successful on enough towers to sustain the network across North America once the facility is fully powered.’_

This was good news. Very good news, actually, Aloy thought as she ate her dinner. Getting the network online would mean that GAIA could be in communication with her anywhere they had online. As of now, that meant just within the facility, but soon she’d be able to go many places without losing contact.

Aloy sat down the bowl alongside the keyboard that she never used, and reached to the monitor. She zoomed in on the image, bringing the view to focus first just on the continent, then zooming in further until the Spire shone on the screen. This was the only one of the Minerva subsystem’s towers Aloy had ever seen in person.

She shifted the view across the valley, to the city of Meridian. This was an older satellite image, taken when the great elevators were in a state of being built, and the city wasn’t quite as big as Aloy remembered from her time there. Still, seeing it sent a pang of sadness and regret through her.

_‘Query: did you enjoy the stew?’_

“Yeah, the stew was fine,” Aloy answered, dismissing the satellite image before her, and leaning back in the chair to prop her legs up on the desk top.

GAIA’s face appeared on the monitor, and Aloy let out a sigh, letting her head fall against the back of the chair.

_‘Query: is something bothering you?’_

“How many times do I have to tell you that you don’t have to say query every time you want to ask a question?” Aloy asked, turning to the purple hued face looking at her with concern from within the computer monitor.

_‘About as many times as you’ve wanted to avoid this question, I suppose.’_

Aloy laughed, probably the first time she had done so in weeks. “True enough,” she said, picking at a loose thread on her pants. “I don’t know what to say, I don’t even know myself. I just feel… restless.”

_‘I can’t help but notice certain things trigger this restlessness.’_

“Damn, you’ve been analyzing my behavior again haven’t you?” Aloy let her feet drop to the floor, turning to face the meddlesome AI head on. “GAIA we’ve talked about this.”

_‘This is not a function I can turn off, Aloy. I am observant, I observe behaviors in everything around me. You. The dust as it falls from the ceiling tiles. The surges in the electricity that powers this facility. Everything, Aloy.’_

“Very well, why don’t you just come out with your analysis then.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and waited.

_‘The towers, or I should think a specific tower. You bring it up on the map often, it’s Meridian. You miss it.’_

Aloy had to hold back a long sigh of relief, hiding her face from GAIA long enough to screw it into proper order before answering. “You’re right, I do miss Meridian,” she said. “And when we talk about bringing the Spire online, I sometimes start remembering things from then. You cracked the code.”

_‘Once we get Zero Dawn back online, you could return there. Relocate.’_

“Maybe,” Aloy said, shrugging off this notion. “Everyone there's probably forgotten me by now anyway.”

The words tumbled from her mouth before she realized and she was quick to change the subject before GAIA had a chance to respond.

“How's fabrication schematics coming on that coupling we need for the system core?”

For a long moment GAIA stared at Aloy from the monitor. The Nora straightened up in the chair, tossing some of her red hair over her shoulder as she stared right back silently.

Then she disappeared to be replaced with the very schematic Aloy had been inquiring about.

_‘I think this is the final design, I'll send the data to the fabrication chamber to synthesize while you sleep.’_

Later, as Aloy retired to the small single bunk unit she had made into her room, she found herself lying awake. Things were progressing. Three more sections and they'd be back online and yet she didn't feel hopeful.

Quite the opposite she was starting to look forward and worry about what came next. She'd wanted out of the ruins for months but fretted over what she would find when she returned.

After staring at the metal ceiling for a while, Aloy threw the covers off of her legs and went to the small computing unit she had hooked up for personal use. She hooked her Focus into it and began bringing up video files from two years prior.

It took a while and some sifting through to find. She sped through an awkward encounter with the Sun-King to reach it until….

Having been filmed through the Focus it was like seeing it again with her own eyes. Erend stood at the ornate marble railing, looking out onto the city. His heavy Oseram hammer was strapped to his back with crossing belts, the steel plates of his armor glinting in the afternoon sun.

Aloy's own hand came into the frame, reaching out to touch his shoulder, alerting him to her presence. Erend turned, looking surprised and rather happy to see her despite the sadness that still shown in his eyes.

Behind the console, in her desolate metal bedroom, Aloy listened as they spoke about Ersa and Dervahl. She took in his face, the way his wide lips moved as he talked, the way he laughed when she said something funny.

“You know what, when we met I thought I was a big shot talking to a pretty girl hidden away in the middle of nowhere,” Erend said. “Now I see that I was lucky just to get a minute of your time.”

Aloy reached out, touching the monitor, her fingers on the yellow folds of his scarf.

“Try not to forget about me, while you're out there changing the world.”

“I'll always have a minute for you,” Aloy heard her own voice say. “Maybe even two.”

The hope in the recorded voice breaks Aloy’s heart, her chest growing tight at the look of delight on Erend’s face.

“Two?!? Ha!” He shrugs, and shakes his head in mild bewilderment. “She likes me.”

Aloy paused the replay there, Erend’s face frozen on the screen with a small grin on it. She had broken that promise of two minutes into a million pieces, she realized. Tears threatened to surface in her eyes, and she blinked them back impatiently, dismissing the video from the screen.

She shut down the console and returned to her bed feeling even worse than before.

—————-

Erend’s bedroom is illuminated by one flickering lamp on his bedside. He’s sitting, naked, on the edge of his bed, his breath slowly leveling out.

Behind him the pretty barmaid he’d brought home is getting her clothes on, sliding back into her dress. He didn't look at her, staring instead at her shadow on the wall in front of him, waiting for her to be ready to depart.

He bent down to retrieve his trousers from the floor, when finally she spoke for the first time since they’d breached the door to his bedroom.

“Who is Aloy?”

Erend froze, one leg into his pants, thinking fast. Of course he’d done it again. Of course he’d called out HER name in a moment of passion.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” the pretty barmaid said, with a tinkling laugh. “It’s not like we’re anything more than an occasional hook up.”

“She’s… a woman from my past,” he answered, proceeding with putting his pants back on.

“I figured as much.”

She came around the bed now, pulling back her curly mussed hair and tying it. Erend straightened up quickly, and ushered her from the room.

Fortunately the pretty barmaid never attempted to stay over. They’d never had to discuss it, but somehow she had always known that it was unwanted.

This didn’t stop her from flirting with him the whole way out, slapping his backside on the way down the stairs, and pinching his cheek above the growth of facial hair along his jaw when he turned to bid her farewell.

“You know, if you ever wanted to make this occasional hook up a bit more than occasional, I wouldn’t complain,” she said, giving him a wink.

Erend felt mildly guilty at how little he liked this idea, he ran his hand down the length of his mohawk, choosing his words carefully. “I’ll bear that in mind.”

It was with relief that he closed his front door behind her. His head was still buzzing from his drinks at the bar, but he goes straight to the kitchen to find a bottle anyway. He let the top clatter to the ground as he collapsed on the couch and put the drink to his lips, draining nearly a quarter of it in one glug.

Two years, he chastised himself. It's been two fucking years and you’re still hung up on this. Erend closes his eyes, and regrets it. His body is still slightly aroused from sex with the pretty barmaid, but it isn’t her he sees when he lets his eyelids close.

No, it’s Aloy, her pale freckled skin outlined against his sheets, her ginger hair strewn across his pillows.

“Damnit,” he groaned, opening his eyes back up and pounding back the rest of the bottle before going and getting another.

He had no idea how late it was, and he didn’t care. If he went and laid in the darkness of his bedroom right now, he knew exactly where his mind would go. Instead he sat up on the couch, drinking.

Erend tried not to think about the fact he had duty in the morning. He was still the Captain of the Sun King’s Vanguard, though often he wondered if he kept that job only out of Avad’s feeling of obligation towards the Oseram.

The second bottle was empty, and if Erend didn’t get a third it was only because he couldn’t manage to convince his legs to rise him from the couch again.

Instead he let his head fall back against the back rest, his eyes closing. For the briefest moment he saw Aloy, her red hair cascading around her face as she looked down at him where he lie in his bed, before he opened them again.

“You fucking idiot,” he growled to himself. “She’s never coming back. GET. OVER. IT. She’s probably long forgotten your drunk ass.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HUZZAH! NaNoWriMo day 1 and I am almost to doubling the daily word goal (1667).
> 
> I had some mild tense shifting issues I noticed when I was editing this. It's a byproduct of speed writing, hopefully I caught them all.
> 
> Hope y'all are ready for this, because it's gonna be a bit of a crazy ride.
> 
> Thanks for reading.


	3. Sleepless, I'm Battle Worn

Aloy writhed in the sheets, sweat clinging the light cotton covers to her skin. Her hair was loose, flowing around her, she could feel it on her cheek and neck as she pressed her face into the pillows.

A moan escaped her lips, her eyes closed tight, an image clear as day in her mind. Erend, his chest all muscles, hair, and scar tissue exposed, looking down at her. His grey eyes, full of so much emotion and desire, lock on hers for a moment before he dips to press his lips to her neck.

Her fingers were cramping, her body on fire, as Aloy rolls into this blissful illusion. She’s close so very close.

Piercing, cutting through the silence of the facility an alarm sounds.

Aloy sat up, the covers falling from her bare top, her sticky fingers retreating from her nether regions as a feeling of panic rose inside of her. The bellowing tone echoed through the halls in through the ajar door to her compartment.

She scooped her long shirt up from the floor, throwing it over her head as she set into motion at top speed. The control room was very close, part of the reason she had chosen that particular compartment to begin with.

“What is it? What’s happening?” Aloy was speaking the moment she crossed the threshold, the monitors were already alight.

_‘There’s and electrical fire in compartment 76.’_

“Shit,” Aloy muttered, heading to the tool chest again, mildly regretting not putting pants on under her sleep shirt which only reached the very top of her thighs. She wiped her moist hand surreptitiously on the side of it.

Unfortunately, doing electrical work on ancient wiring had turned out to be quite the fire hazard. This was not the first time she’d had such an occurrence, though admittedly it had never been so inconveniently timed.

She located a fire extinguisher and a compact gas mask. Aloy usually utilized this mask when welding with more hazardous metals, but it would suit for smoke in the enclosed compartment.

Not wanting to waste any time she set off, if GAIA had anything to say about this she didn’t voice it as Aloy progressed rapidly through the facility.

Fortunately all the other quadrants were unharmed, as the fire happened to be in the very compartment she had JUST returned power to. Smoke was creeping through to the adjacent room by the time she entered it, and she paused to don the mask.

It tugged at her hair, pinching it as she tightened the rubber banding that would hold it in place. She took one long breath through it, to ensure it was sealed properly, before storming through to the next compartment.

The desk she had sat on earlier was completely ablaze, she popped the safety ring off of the fire extinguisher and let it rip right at the base of the flames, slowly coating the top of the desk in a white foam.

The clean up for this would be tedious, she realized, as the last of the flames flickered out.

_‘Activating air ventilation system.’_

GAIA’s voice was coming through a tinny intercom speaker in the adjacent room, and for a second Aloy wondered why before realizing she wasn’t wearing her Focus. She must have left it by the console in her room after…

The sound of the fans kicking on drug Aloy back to reality, and she set down the spent extinguisher on the charred remnants of the desk. Then she left the compartment, returning to the control room.

GAIA was already on screen when she got there. Aloy slid into the chair, careful to make sure her long shirt was tucked under her bare ass.

_‘It could have been worse. I’ll fabricate the necessary parts for a new panel’_

Aloy nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Bitter disappointment had risen in her chest, she swallowed back a string of complaints that would not be eased by speaking them.

_‘I’m sorry for… interrupting.’_

Having picked an inconvenient time to sip from the cup of water she had left on the console from dinner, Aloy choked, nearly inhaling the drink instead of swallowing it.

“Oh… um… don’t worry about it,” Aloy said, unable to help the blush creeping up her cheeks. She set the cup back down and brought her hands up to her hair. She scooped the lengthy locks in front of one shoulder, fingers fiddling through the mix of loose waves and braids.

This was a nervous tick she had developed. The longer her hair had grown the more time it took to maintain so that moments like this where she combed through it with her fingers also served to keep the lengthy mane in check. At least that's what she told herself.

_‘Query: Who is Erend?’_

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Had she called out his name? It was entirely possible. Aloy dropped her eyes from GAIA’s image on the monitor, looking at the glass of water as if it might bail her out of this question. She picked up the glass and took another sip for something to do, her other hand still raking through her own hair.

Out of the corner of her eye Aloy could see that GAIA was visibly losing patience with her. Despite being an AI, the human face GAIA used was very expressive. Her lips were turned down in a frown, her dark eyebrows furrowed as she stared out of the monitor.

_‘Is he the Captain of the Vanguard? The one you tried to visit in Meridian when we passed through?’_

Aloy swallowed hard. She knew there was no curbing GAIA when she voluntarily dropped her usual ‘query’ formality without request.

“Yes,” Aloy snapped, straightening up and finally bringing her eyes up to meet her digital counterpart’s. “Now can we drop it.”

This earned her a withering look from the AI. Aloy let the silence stretch thin between them, waiting for GAIA to make her next move.

_‘Fabrication is in motion for the replacement components.’_

Aloy was happy for the change of subject, as they switched to planning out how they'd recover from the set back. Unbeknownst to her, however, GAIA had switched on the console tucked away in the girl’s bedroom, next to it, the Focus flickered on as the AI accessed the files within.

_‘It’s just a couple days loss. I think we can still have the network up in a week or so.’_

“I prefer not to predict time frames,” Aloy said, standing finally from the chair, her shirt now sticking to the back of her legs. “So when you say a week, I’ll pretend you said a month.”

GAIA seemed to recognize the dismissal, and Aloy returned to her room. All was as she left it, she spared her Focus, which sat dark and quiet, a glance before climbing into the bed.

Sleep once again evaded her, she pummeled her pillows as if it was comfortability that was keeping her awake. This wasn’t the first set back she had ever faced in her journey to repair Zero Dawn, but for some reason it rankled more than others. Perhaps because it was so close to the finish line. Freedom was on the horizon, and any set back put that dream further and further from her grasp.

Aloy tried not to think about Erend. She attempted this often, and always seemed to fail. It didn’t help that she knew GAIA wasn’t going to drop the topic for forever, not now that she’d connected the name to the incident nine months before. Her time of keeping her feelings in regards to the Oseram she’d left behind in Meridian seemed to be at an end.

She squeezed her eyes closed, determined to sleep. This was something she could worry about later.

—————-

At first, Erend assumed the hammering was inside his own head. Would make sense to go along with the throbbing pain that was there. It took several rounds of banging before he realized that it was actually someone knocking, hard, on his front door.

Finally, he raked his eyes back open again, they’re dry and his eyelids protest.

“C’mon, Cap,” a voice called through the door. “Rise and shine.”

Erend groaned, lifting himself up off of the couch. He had moved very little from when he had passed out there, his neck aching from being cricked against the backrest of the sofa. He tried to work this out, rotating his head around as he padded barefoot to the door.

“Gareth,” Erend greeted, simply, after swinging the door open to reveal his second in command standing on the other side of it.

Gareth dropped his fisted hand, which had been poised to begin another round of knocking. He was of a smaller build than Erend, still muscular, had to be to cart around the metric ton of Vanguard armor that was a part of their uniform, but somehow in a more compact way.

“Well, at least you’re standing,” he said, pushing past the Captain and into the apartment. “Now how about you put on the rest of your clothes.”

“What, you wouldn’t want to do rounds with me not wearing a shirt?” Erend asked, rubbing his own temple.

“I mean, we could go for a few rounds of something at my place with you wearing even less if you like,” Gareth said, intentionally pushing the joke further than Erend had meant it to go. “But we both know you don’t swing that way, Cap. So go get dressed.”

Erend answered with a grunt, and evacuated up the stairs. Gareth was probably the closest thing Erend had to a best friend, and he’d known exactly what he was doing flirting to get Erend just uncomfortable enough to want to get moving.

As he reached the safety of his bedroom, Erend baffled for a moment at the state of his bedclothes before remembering that the pretty barmaid had come home with him again the night before. Damnit, he’d promised himself to stop doing that. Then again, he’d promised himself to stop drinking so much on nights when he had duty the next morning as well, and that hadn’t worked out either.

The pounding in his head did not fade as he dressed, if anything it seemed to get worse with each layer of clothing and armor he put on. He had no choice but to ignore it, gritting his teeth against the pain and sliding on his armored boots.

Gareth was leaning against the closed front door when Erend returned, a look of relief on his clean shaven face. Most Oseram sported facial hair in different arrays and levels of complication, but not Gareth. He said the hairless face made him look younger, a statement that always made Erend wonder just how old his friend really was.

Neither spoke as they got underway, Erend latching the door behind them as they hit the early streets of Meridian. The morning air was starting to wake him up, though the headache was not budging from its place behind his eyes.

As a result, morning rounds went by in a hungover blur. He was grateful Gareth took the lead in keeping them on track, otherwise Erend would have lost track of where they had been and where they were heading early in the day. The weather was warm, and it was turning his sour stomach with each passing hour. Why had he drank so many? Why did he ALWAYS drink so many?

Fortunately, in his haze the day moved quickly past him, flowing by like a river, buffeting him here and there as it carried on whether he was ready for it to or not.

“I can do the evening brief if you’d prefer,” Gareth offered, as they rode one of the great elevators back up from the village nestled at the base of Meridian’s tall Mesa perch.

Erend considered this, he ran his gloved hand down the stripe of hair that grew down the center of his head, and wondered how peeved Avad would be if he blew off tea. Not that he might not be just as peeved if Erend showed up for tea. It was hard to tell these days what sort of reception to expect from the Sun-King.

“Nah, I appreciate the offer,” Erend said, shaking his head as the golden gates folded out of sight, the elevator car having reached topside. “Headaches all but gone now.”

This was tested immediately, as once leaving Gareth in the square, Erend walked the bridge to the Sun Palace. The line of Carja guards, backs stiff, pounded their glittering gold weapons at their feet as he passed. With each thud he felt his nerves fray until it felt like a miracle to reach the marble stairs up to the top terrace.

The gold gate that led to the throne was closed tight, meaning the King had already retreated to sit inside the royal sitting room, as expected. He was also accompanied by Marad.

“Ah, Erend,” Avad greeted, gesturing to a seat for the Vanguard to fill. “I hadn’t realize how late it was.”

Erend gave a polite bow, before going to the indicated upholstered bench, sinking onto it. “Good evening your highness. Marad.”

The tea tray arrived swiftly, the servants well used to the order of things and the schedule. The usual back and forth ensued as Erend reported that as usual there wasn't much to report and the King acted relieved as if they weren't over a year into peace times by now. Erend was going through the motions, the tea settling his stomach, but the headache still throbbing steadily through his brain.

“You look tired,” Avad said, having finished his tea and sat back in his chair further, eying Erend.

“No more than usual,” Erend returned, not wanting this conversation to have the slightest chance of turning personal. Marad had already become distracted with his scrolls, which was about as private as things got between the Captain of the Vanguard and the Sun King. “Working hard.”

“And apparently partying even harder,” the King said, folding his hands together and fixing Erend with a cool look.

There was no point saying anything to deny this, the sureness was painted across the royal’s face. Erend let out the air in his lungs in a long huff, trying to formulate a response.

He was spared having to do so by the arrival of Natorah, Sun-King Avad’s wife, and by all technical terms the Sun Queen. She must have been out in the city somewhere, as she arrived via the same door Erend had.

Avad was immediately distracted, his eyes drawn to her as she crossed the room.

Erend could hardly blame him. Natorah was of noble Carja birth, and it showed in the way she carried herself. She was dressed up in fine colorful silks, wrapped around her at angles and anchored in place with decorative enamel clips, as was her long brunette hair. She was also four months pregnant, the silk front of her dress clinging to her round belly.

It was strange to think that Avad was to be a father. Strange to see him doting on any woman, if Erend was honest with himself. The couple had met in the aftermath of the battle for the Spire. Natorah’s family being very affluent they had poured money into the recovery efforts, but Natorah herself had joined in to assist with her own bare hands as a gifted healer.

Avad had risen from his seat now, waiting for her to join them.

Erend tried to imagine having a baby with the pretty barmaid, picturing her wearing draping maternity dresses. The bottom of his stomach seemed to drop out, and he felt immediately like he was suffocating. He choked down the last dregs of his tea, as his throat had gone very dry.

The sun was setting outside, and in the seconds before the King reached his wife, Natorah turned to glance behind her and her dark hair caught the warm light shining through, giving it a red tint.

In an instant, before he could stop himself, Erend imagines Aloy instead. Imagines himself in Avad’s place, pulling a pregnant Aloy against his chest, burying his face in her delicately styled ginger hair, running a hand over her belly.

Erend is alarmed by how different he feels imagining this over the much more possible option of settling down with the pretty barmaid. He can feel his heart beating against the inside of his rib cage,

“Sorry to interrupt,” Natorah said, now nestled under Avad’s arm. Erend blinks and she's herself again, regarding him with a cool look to match her husbands.

“Not to worry my love, we were wrapping up,” Avad said. “Weren't we, Captain?”

Grateful for the dismissal, Erend clambered to his feet. “Indeed,” he said, bowing. Marad doesn't even look up from his scrolls and the King had already turned his attention back to his wife as Erend trod from the space.

He had no memory of making the decision to go, but soon his legs have carried him to his usual drinking hole. The suns only just set so the place is nearly empty, a couple regulars, already half sodden, greet him as he enters. He waves them off, sidling into his usual seat at the bar.

“I'll have a pint and be ready to bring a second,” he says to the bartender, a grizzled old Oseram man who looks neither surprised to see him or to hear his order.

Erend downed the first tankard in practically one lengthy gulp, ignoring the bits that escaped to dribble through the facial hair that lined either side of his bare chin. He slid the empty glass away and it was replaced immediately by a full one, the amber liquid inside fizzing with life. He eyed it for the briefest moment before lifting it to his lips to down it also.

Who was he kidding anyway? No one wanted to have his baby, not Aloy and not even the pretty barmaid. Settling down? The closest he'd get to that is passing out from his drinking at a reasonable enough hour so that Gareth wouldn't have to rise him.

“Another,” he called to the bartender, and soon a third tankard reached his gloved hands.

Didn’t look like he'd be settling down tonight, because if he couldn't quiet his mind he'd at least make it incoherent. Fortunately the pretty barmaid didn't appear to be working, which was for the best. Erend didn't want company. All he wanted was to forget.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day two of NaNoWriMo. I'm at 5969/50000 and am running ahead of schedule!
> 
> I did mention this was nothing like AtSP right? I hope so cuz. *gestures at it* clearly. 
> 
> Updating the tags after I post this as I promised I would. 
> 
> Hoping to get good and ahead on word count this weekend to mitigate the low writing days sure to happen when The Frozen Wilds expansion hits (excited!). This means the weekend you may MAY just see a day where I post two chapters. 
> 
> So far my highest word count day in the history of me writing things was 7000. I would LOVE to break that record. 
> 
> Anyway I'm rambling. Thanks for reading. Thanks for the awesome comments on the first bit.


	4. You're All I Want

Aloy threw her weight back, allowing the enemy clad in Shadow Carja gear to fall to her feet. She jabbed her spear into his back so that he dissolved into a cloud of digital sparks.

There was no time to celebrate the kill, as another enemy was making a swing at her. She ducked, red hair flying, swinging her spear low to knock this foe from his feet. Aloy swiped at his throat with the blade of her spear, and he dissolved from existence just as the previous one had.

She spared a look around herself to see there were nearly half a dozen more enemies closing in.

“Weapon switch,” Aloy said, turning the spear over in her hands. “Shadow War Bow.”

The weapon morphed in her grip, replaced with the one she had requested. She drew the string taught, aiming at the head of an incoming fighter, releasing and in an instant her target burst into sparks, vanishing as she moved on to the next.

Wave after after wave of enemies came, and she dispatched them all, sending them back into the digital ether from which they had come. Her muscles were starting to feel the burn from all the physical activity, her mind blissfully blank for the first time in days.

That morning when GAIA had informed her it would take a bit more time to fabricate the necessary components to rebuild the fire damaged hardware, Aloy had taken the opportunity to blow off some steam. It was definitely needed, as her OTHER attempt to blow off steam had been interrupted.

_‘Simulation complete.’_

The lush forest Aloy had been fighting in faded away to be replaced by metal walls. The weapon in her hand also vanished, aside from the plastic molded handle that was used for grip simulation.

_‘Heart rate 145 beats per minute.’_

Aloy stood for a couple minutes in the center of the combat simulator, catching her breath. Her skin was tingling, the adrenaline still flowing through her veins, and she felt alive.

_‘You were .35 seconds from setting a new record on that sequence.’_

“I must have been slacking,” Aloy huffed. The simulator was an air tight compartment, to allow for GAIA to have full environmental control. A hiss sounded as the seal around the door released. “Maybe next time. Have you got those components ready?”

_‘Yes, they’re waiting for you in the fabrication shop.’_

This was precisely what Aloy was hoping to hear. She routed through the control room to retrieve her tool pouch, pausing to down some water. Before her work out she’d spent well over an hour cleaning up the mess from the fire extinguisher, ripping out the burnt out wires, and removing the smoked out husk that had once been a control panel.

So now she needed to build its replacement.

For that, she made her way to what the Ancient’s had called “Research and Development”. This had turned out to be a lab of sorts, but it had many of the capabilities of the cauldrons. The mini fabrication units weren’t big enough to make things quite as large as machines, but were very capable of making all the pieces one might require to rebuild a burnt out control panel.

The lab was two stories, the top of which was open at the center, a railing separating where Aloy stepped in, and the fabrication units below. She glanced down to see the robotic arms removing the last pieces from the flickering dance of electricity at the center where they were forged.

By the time Aloy was trotting down the winding metal stairs to the main lab space, the units were powering down.

_‘Fabrication cycle is complete.’_

“I see that,” Aloy said, coming up to the freshly made pieces all lined up. There were metal plates, and tiny pointed screws. Copper wire in thin coils, and switches waiting to be installed.

She took all of this to a work table nearby. The lab was full of these, some with permanent tools installed on them. Her favorite had a mounted lamp with a magnifying glass in it, excellent for small wiring, and mending circuit boards.

“GAIA, why don’t you put on some music,” Aloy said, as she began sorting the pieces, her focus display labeling them, color coding them. “This is probably going to take a while.”

_‘What sort of music would you like?’_

Aloy considered this, as she retrieved tools from the drawer nestled just under the work table. “Something peppy,” she said. “Surprise me.”

Music comes tinkling not just through Aloy’s focus, but through other speakers in the room. The opening hits and she recognizes it instantly, having heard it before.

It's easy to set to work, bobbing her head along to the music, fingers setting into motion.

“Are you ready? Are you ready for this? Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?” Aloy sings along, hunched over her work.

This was customary practice when Aloy was building components, to put on music and grind through the process. It was second nature, especially with the constant visual guidance through her Focus.

She finished the first fuse, lifting it in her fingers, singing again. “Another one bites the dust.”

The day zooms by in a haze of music and careful machining. She takes a break once late in the day to use the bathroom and get something to eat, a croissant from the food synthesizer.

Then she's back to work, fitting the pierces into the console casing, humming along to yet another song from the late 1900s, an era of music GAIA seemed to favor for some reason.

Aloy adds the final piece, the door that will close to protect everything within, as GAIA fades the music off.

_‘Better than new.’_

“Fine Nora craftsmanship right here,” Aloy jokes, she scoops off the goggles that have been resting on her forehead. She shook her head, loosening her hair from where the elastic band had creased it. “Looks like we just might recover from the fire in less than 24 hours. Pretty sure THAT’S a record.”

_‘When you set your mind to something, you never cease to surprise me.’_

Aloy had stood up from the work stool she'd been glued to the past few hours, pausing in the act of stretching her back as GAIA’s words washed over her.

Sentiment wasn't something Aloy was particularly good with. The irony that this AI was more comfortable expressing it than she was weighed heavily in her next statement.

“Don't get all mushy on me just yet, I still have to install the infernal thing.”

Then, intent on finishing what she'd started, Aloy carted off her freshly minted control panel, leaving the fabrication lab. She had to hug the metal casing to her body as she wound up the spiral stairs, letting out a long sigh as she reached the control room.

She set down the panel to get the tools she would need. There was once a time she strapped weapons and traps to her, now it was power tools. She holstered an electric drill, and the soldering iron before closing the lid on the toolbox.

Before long she was switching on her headlamp, stepping back into the slightly charred compartment. One of three remaining compartments between her and her end goal.

Aloy didn't need to request the music before it was playing in her ear as she set to work. First splicing into what remained of the wires to fresh wires. Then mounting the control panel with the power drill. It was past her usual dinner time by the time she finished soldering all the little connections within the box where they should be.

“Alright, run a test and see if-“ The rest of her statement was lost in a yawn.

_‘Initial scan shows connections SAT. Installing control panel firmware.’_

“Yes, do that,” Aloy said. Allowing herself to sink into a dusty chair that went to one of the handful of desks in this compartment.

_‘Firmware installed successfully. Attempting to boot.’_

Aloy found herself holding her breath, praying to gods she was pretty sure she didn't even believe in. The lights flickered on, the panel adjacent to the closed door that led to the next section to be restored glowing into life.

_‘Power successfully restored. You did it.’_

“We did it,” Aloy returns, almost reflexively, as the AI always seems to forget that Aloy wouldn't have the first clue how to build a control panel from scratch without her guidance.

Aloy looks to the closed door.

“I know I've said this once before but we’ll unseal the door to the next section tomorrow.”

With that, she closed the door to the newly installed panel, gathered her tools, and made to leave the compartment.

_‘Would you like meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner?’_

“Sounds perfect,” Aloy answered, ducking through the door, and setting back towards the comfort of the control room.

Later, as she finished the last bites of potatoes that were surprisingly good considering she knew they were made from some dehydrated powder, GAIA popped onto the monitor.

Aloy already knew before the purple hued woman opened her mouth that she was going to hate this. Could tell by the look in GAIA’s eyes. She's waited until Aloy had fixed the damage, settled down and ate, and was now set to pounce. First she'd start with a casual question, then she'd push to whatever it was she wanted to really discuss.

_‘Query: how was the meatloaf?’_

Typical, Aloy thought wryly, sinking back into the computer chair. “Not bad,” she answered, deciding it best to let GAIA run her cycle.

_‘Today was a pretty good day. You needed a good day after yesterday.’_

Oh she must want to discuss something really touchy, Aloy realized, if she was buttering Aloy up this thoroughly.

“Yesterday wasn't one of our best days, no,” Aloy agreed, choosing every word carefully.

_‘I was wondering if perhaps now that you're in a better state of mind, you might be willing to discuss more about the Captain.’_

Fuck.

Well. It HAD been a good day. Aloy reached for the water, downing what was left in the cup.

“You know his name now and yet you're still referring to him as the Captain,” Aloy said. This was all GAIA had known him as for nine months. The Captain Aloy had inquired insistently about during their brief visit to Meridian on their way between facilities.

_‘Erend.’_

GAIA stated the name simply, and then stared with calculating eyes at Aloy from the monitor.

“What exactly is it you’d like to know?” This probably isn't the best tact, but Aloy doesn't want to give up more information than she has to, and a question and answer session seems much safer than her actually starting what could turn into an endless emotional venting session.

‘ _What was he to you? Were you… lovers?’_

Aloy recoils slightly at the word. She'd heard it used before in not so flattering connotations, though she supposed by the base definition…

“If you're asking if he was… more than just a friend and comrade in arms then the answer is,” Aloy paused for the briefest of moments. “Yes.”

_‘Why have you never mentioned him? Did it end badly?’_

Damn it all. Aloy was fighting every instinct in her body which was screaming at her to flea. To go hide in her bedroom compartment, and unplug the console in there so she could be left in peace. Instead she turned these questions over in her mind, and carefully pieced together a response.

“It didn't really end so much as I… left,” Aloy answered, she had her hair wound between her fingers again, the ginger locks illuminated in the soft glow of the monitor. “I meant to go back, never meant for so much time to just… slip away.”

_‘So you seized the first opportunity to stop through Meridian, nine months ago on the way down from the far North.’_

“Yes. Even though I knew after over a year he might have moved on,” Aloy admitted. “But as you already know, he wasn't there. Out on Vanguard business. Ironically to the Motherland.”

Aloy had cried for hours, traveling on the back of a Strider, leaving Meridian in her wake as she headed South. GAIA had been in a low power state at the time, and when she gained back the ability to speak she had questioned Aloy, who had firmly set the topic into a state of do not discuss ever since.

_‘Will you try again?’_

As if Aloy hadn't asked herself this very question a million times. The idea both thrilled and terrified her, she couldn't explain the feelings that surged through her at the thought.

“I figure I'll know the answer to that when we’ve done what we need to do here.”

It was the thing she’d told herselfa thousand times. She couldn't know now, couldn't feasibly imagine it actually being an option, so until it was she needn't decide if she would go.

_‘Aloy, that is not as far off as it once was.’_

Recognizing the tone, Aloy set to head off the speech before it could get underway. “Then you won't mind waiting to discuss it further until it's done.”

Silence. Silence. Silence.

_‘Very well. Get some sleep.’_

Not often was it GAIA who did the dismissal for the end of the night, but Aloy was not going to fight it. She spun the computer chair and set off to bed.

—————-

Erend had never been more grateful for the weekend, never more grateful for off duty days. He'd endured one last day of hungover rounds, this time letting Gareth take King duty at the end, before slipping into a drunken stupor.

He spent the first night at the bar, chugging back tankard after tankard, laughing with some of his men who came in and drank alongside him for a while. They always seemed to arrive later and leave earlier than he did though, so that he ended the night alone and avoiding the eye of the pretty barmaid.

He sloppily piled some shards on the counter, stumbling from the place, his head swimming.

He still didn't remember how he had gotten home that night, just that he'd woken up on the floor alongside his couch on his first day off.

Deciding it was best not to let the world play witness to his sloppiness, Erend pulled himself together long enough to go purchase alcohol to drink in the solitary privacy of his apartment.

Erend spent two days festering on his couch, drinking and staring off into the nothingness around him.

He had no concept of time in this state, his brain a mush of fragmented thoughts and impulses. At one point he's angry though he has no idea what about. He breaks the coat rack that sits in his entry way. Not like he needed it anyway, he never hung anything there.

The knocking doesn't even rouse him this time, it isn't until Gareth is full on shaking his shoulder that Erend’s eyes pop open.

“What time is it? Morning rounds?” His words are slurring together, and he's blinking as he realizes that Gareth is not in uniform.

“It's Sunday night, Cap,” he said, straightening up. He's wearing a fancy plum colored shirt with puffy sleeves, the wrists sporting frilly folds and it is just so very Gareth.

“Then what the hell are you doing here?” Erend grunted, sitting up.

“Thought after forty eight hours of turning your liver into a shriveled remnant of what it once was, I might wanna get a head start on mopping you up.”

This is all spoken over his shoulder, as he had proceeded to the kitchen, pouring Erend a tall cup of water and returning with it.

“I know, I'm a fucking mess,” Erend said, before taking the cup of water and gulping back nearly half of it in one go.

“Am I meant to disagree with you here?” Gareth asked.

Erend laughed, then hiccuped, swallowing back the taste of alcohol and bile that crept up his throat as he did so. He emptied the water glass and his friend immediately took it and refilled it.

“When are you going to stop doing this to yourself?” Gareth asked.

The fresh glass of water is already half empty, Erend set it loosely in his hand alongside his leg and let his head fall back on the cushion behind him.

“Shit, what else have I got to do?” Erend asked. “I guess I could get a hobby. I could collect rocks, like Unkar. Tumble them in one of his little drums and shine them up. That'll keep me occupied and fulfilled I'm sure.”

He's deflecting with humor, he laughs at his own joke though Gareth gives it just the smallest ha, still staring Erend down.

“At least keep it to the weekends,” Gareth pleaded. “I need you functional during the week. At least more functional than you've been the past few days.”

Erend knows he's right. He's at the bottom of an endless cycle he's been circling for two years. Like water circling a drain. He rebounds, he does well for a bit, his mind starts to play tricks on him, he spirals down until he hits rock bottom.

Rinse and repeat. Probably, he imagines, for all eternity until he dies alone with some sort of alcohol bottle gripped in one hand.

Gareth was back in the kitchen. Erend only realizes when he hears the clinking of bottles. His friend is taking all the alcohol, every partial bottle left for later, every unopened mead meant for a special occasion.

Erend couldn't have fought him even if he wanted to, his legs feel like jelly, and he is still drunk. The room was spinning enough sitting down, he wasn't willing to see what it did should he attempt to stand up.

“Sleep it off, Cap,” Gareth said, as he refilled the cup and set it on the table in front of where Erend sat half slumped. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Gareth's gone in a swish of frilled sleeve and chink of bottles, the door closing with a dull thud. Erend stares for a moment in the direction of the kitchen, half mentally inventorying bottles that perhaps his friend might have missed and half hoping every last one was truly gone.

With the last bit of his energy, he pulled himself all the way up onto the couch, laying the length of it, flopping onto his back. “Pull yourself together,” he said to the ceiling.

Then he sank into the warmth of the cushions and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooooooooo just under the wire for a day three chapter. And now it's the weekend. 
> 
> *cracks knuckles*
> 
> Speed writing is cathartic in a way, racing yourself each day to get more words written. Tomorrow should be a big one. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks so much for reading and special thanks to my commenters.


	5. So Bring Me the Dawn

Aloy awoke, just as if it was any other day. She showered, rebraided the top portions of her hair, and dressed in her loose fitting ancient clothing. She ate breakfast in the control room, then strapped herself with tools as usual.

The truth was, however, that this was far from being just any other day.

A few days had passed since the fire, and GAIA had kept true to Aloy’s request in regards to further discussion about Erend and Meridian. Instead they’d thrown themselves head first back into work, clearing and powering the remaining sections, leaving only the main reactor, or system core, compartment to be unsealed.

_‘You brought the meter?’_

GAIA asked this as Aloy passed through the slightly charred room, nearly to her destination.

“I did, it’s charged and reset,” Aloy answered. She looked down at the EPD clipped to the V neck of her top, it read 0.0 exposure.

_‘Once the core is powered, you won’t be able to be close to it for very long.’_

The final room before the reactor compartment was bright, and humming with noise from machines in the room Aloy had yet to identify. They looked like body scanners of some kind, and she wondered if it was security related.

“We’ve been over this GAIA,” Aloy assured the AI. “To pay attention to the reading, and if it spikes or the device alarms to get the hell out of there.”

Aloy checked for probably the hundredth time that the carefully machined power coupling she would be using to repair the core was safely tucked inside the bag she wore slung across her body. She stood facing the thick metal door, the last door in this facility she had yet to open.

A schematic of the room she was about to enter flickered up on her display, the core was a huge round THING sank into a pit in the center, from it flowed pipes and wires. Highlighted on this image, along the far wall was the control panel to get power to the compartment itself.

_‘First step, the panel on the North East wall.’_

Aloy bit back the retort that she already knew this, instead nodding and saying “Let’s get on with it then.”

The hiss of the seal releasing filled the air, as the compartment door loosened, swinging towards where Aloy stood. For a moment she gripped the strap of her bag, and stared into the dark depths of the space beyond.

Before her nerves could get the best of her, she switched on the headlamp and stepped up over the frame of the door. Her footsteps reverberated through the room, the floor of grated metal overhung the complex device down below.

Aloy walked clockwise around the perimeter, stepping over wires and ducking under tubing all of which led down to the silent reactor. The control panel was in fairly good condition, a couple fuses that needed to be replaced.

She did so stealing endless glances down into the pit.

“Alright GAIA, that should do it.” Aloy stepped back, placing a hand to the metal railing that lined the walkway overhanging the drop off.

_‘Running diagnostics.’_

The seconds feel like days as she waits. She checks the rectangular box clipped to her shirt, the display now says 0.3 making her glance once more below.

_‘Diagnostics tests complete. Connections SAT. Attempting to boot.’_

“Here goes nothing,” Aloy said, closing her eyes. She doesn’t open them until the soft red glow shines through her eyelids, the lights were on.

The equipment along the walls all came on, displays flickering to life. Aloy had been holding her breath, but now she took long shuddering ones as she looked around herself.

_‘Compartment fully functional. It’s time.’_

Aloy forced herself back into motion, continuing clockwise along the walkway, to the ladder down into the pit. She checked her bag unnecessarily, before stepping down onto the first rung. This was a total straight down climb, with nothing to grip but the smooth metal rungs.

So it was with relief that she stepped off at the bottom onto a platform that stood level with the top of the system core.

It was so much bigger than she had realized it would be, big as a Behemoth and encased completely in thick shining silver metal.

“Alright, what am I doing?” Aloy viewed the mess of piping and wiring coming from the core through the interface on her Focus. Soon GAIA illuminated what she needed to find, it was of course down and around the other side.

_‘What is your exposure reading?’_

Aloy checked. “1.2,” she answered, reminding herself she was meant to be paying attention to this she took the next significantly shorter ladder down into the bottom most level around the core.

She had to snake behind pipes like vines to reach the main connection, where a wire the size of a tree trunk had been blown away from the main mechanism.

“Found it,” Aloy said. In one motion she unshouldered her bag, sinking to her knees to fish through it for tools.

Getting the old connector off wasn’t an easy task on either ends, fragments of the previous one were half melted both to the reactor core and the wiring. Once it was all off though, the new coupling fit on like a dream.

Aloy bolted it back in place, like plugging in a massive wire to the biggest control panel she’d ever worked on.

“Exposure,” she swallowed hard as she read it. “11.7. What’s the next step?”

_‘You need to return to the controls top side to initialize.’_

Not needing to be told twice, Aloy returned all her tools to her bag, and climbed back up the two ladders back to the relative safety of the walkway. She went straight for the bank of monitors just inside the entry door.

The console scanned her, confirming her identity as Elisabet Sobeck, and soon Aloy found herself staring at the prompt “Initialize Reactor Power” and a glowing green confirmation button.

_‘It’s time.’_

Aloy nodded, reaching a slightly shaking hand forward and pressing two fingers to the green circle. The screen went blank, and behind her she could hear sounds she couldn’t begin to identify crescendoing from the reactor core below.

The hum was intense, and unless Aloy was much mistaken she could feel it vibrating through the metal grate flooring. She stepped back from the console, looking down to the EPD, the number was climbing before her eyes.

She spun on the spot, looking to the pit, the glow of it, the slight movement in the hoses, it was almost as if it was alive.

_‘Reaction successfully initialized. System core running initialization procedures. What is your exposure?”_

Aloy checked again, nearly choking on her own tongue before reading “47.6” aloud.

_‘Get out. Seal the door behind you. Go.’_

She fled, tripping over the door jam and falling to her knees. Aloy let out a noise of frustration, clattering back to her feet and slamming the door closed, mashing the panel adjacent to it.

The hiss of the air lock sounded, and Aloy slumped against the closed hatch, breathing hard.

_‘System power at 45% and climbing. You should return to the control room.'_

Aloy lifted herself off the door finally, heading back the way she had come. She felt oddly tired in a way she couldn’t quantify, it surprised her. She hadn’t exactly done much in the way of physical labor, aside from the ladders, and yet her limbs felt heavy.

The walk up the stairs to the control room had never been so painstaking. She stumbled up the last few, bursting into the compartment as gravity nearly brought her to the floor again.

_‘There is tea in the synthesizer for you, drink it. You received twice the exposure we expected and you will likely feel fatigue.’_

“Oh, I’m feeling it,” Aloy muttered, retrieving the warm cup and coming to sit at the console. “Talk to me.”

_‘Core power at 87%. Reactor stable.’_

The tea was sweetened, and there was something citrusy in it, it was soothing to her throat, and was helping her focus. Neither spoke, GAIA had put the percentage up on the screen, and Aloy watched it climb, drinking down her tea. The hand not gripping the cup was toying with her hair.

_‘Core power 100%. Reactor stable. Ready to send signals to the Minerva towers.’_

Aloy set down the cup, pulled a knee to her in the chair, and let out a long breath. “Do it.”

—————-

Erend was actually having a pretty decent day. And it was the second such day in a row, would wonders never cease? He's still drank the night before, but Gareth had gone to the pub with him, and pulled him out at a reasonable enough hour that he found himself not even the slightest bit hungover.

It was almost strange to observe the city so clearly in the morning light, usually by the time the fog lifted it was afternoon at best. But Erend had been conscious and present for the morning meeting and they were half way through the rounds ahead of schedule.

“This has never happened,” Gareth joked, elbowing the Captain as they made the walk along the southern overlook, past the great elevators. “Behind schedule? All the time. On schedule? If we are lucky but AHEAD of schedule? Never.”

“Don't get used to it,” Erend joked, running a gloved hand down his mohawk. “We both know me better than that.”

Erend had expected his friend to clap back at this. Tell him he could do it if he wanted, that he didn't have to be the drunken sod of a man they were both used to him being.

When this didn't come, Erend looked around to realize Gareth was no longer walking at his side. He had stopped in the middle of the walk way. Erend doubled back to him.

“What's up, I was talking to myself for half a-“

“Cap…”

Erend realized suddenly that Gareth is staring off of the Mesa to the South, between two of the gazebos that clung to the edge along the walkway. Others around them were also looking, some even pointing.

Erend turned, slowly, his eyes growing wide as he saw it.

The Spire, which had been dormant for two years, was starting to glow blue. The panels on it were moving, realigning.

Before he knew what he was doing, Erend was pushing his way into one of the gazebos. He wasn't the only one with this idea, and it was already crowded, but he made it to the rail anyway, gazing across the valley to the Alight.

What could it mean? He wondered. The Spire had only ever come alive once, and at the time it was because Hades was attempting to directly access it. He took solace in the fact it was shining blue, and not red as it had then.

Blue, the color of overridden machines, and the scarf Aloy always used to wear around her neck.

Erend pulls himself together, leaving the crowded gazebo to find Gareth.

“Should we go check on this?” Gareth asked, the moment the Captain reached his side.

“Yes.” Erend is glad Gareth suggested it, as the glowing Spire was calling to him, like a beacon through the smoke. The choice wasn't a hard one, of course he had to go see.

They fought their way to the elevator, and had to wait for several car trips before they managed to get on one. Erend was sandwiched between people, hardly able to feel the air flowing through the open grating of the elevator car.

He closed his eyes, trying to slow his racing heart, both excited and scared to see what awaited for him up on the Alight.

——————-

Aloy was gazing at the monitor as if enraptured by it. The towers had all flickered into life on the map, followed by the Tall Necks scattered across the land. An empty plate before her from the food GAIA had all but force fed her.

“What about the cauldrons?” Aloy asked. “Tell me you have the cauldrons.”

_‘Cauldron Sigma online.’_

It was happening, it was actually happening. The map was starting to fill with icons, machines, cauldrons, cradle facilities, one by one coming up onto the network.

_‘I have the cauldrons Xi, Rho, and Zeta.’_

“It’s… it’s working?” She gripped her hair, eyes roving screen.

_‘Yes, Aloy, it’s working.’_

On impulse, Aloy reached out and pressed her finger to the icon indicating the Spire. Suddenly a live feed from the tower filled the screen, a wide panoramic view from the top, Meridian towering tall across the canyon from it. It was just as she remembered it, if not a bit better off than the last time she's seen it.

The elevators that had been destroyed in the battle with Hades had been rebuilt, and if she wasn't mistaken some of the structures within the city were taller, built up over two years.

_‘So much information. I missed this. I missed the data.’_

GAIA sounded very nearly wistful, the monitor to the left of the main one was an endless scroll of information coming in from machines from all over the network.

“We did it,” Aloy breathed, sinking back into the chair.

_'You did it. You brought Zero Dawn back online.’_

—————-

Erend had taken the walk up the winding trail to the Alight faster than he'd ever done in his life. It was the first time he'd come to the place since defending it with his life two years before.

They'd mended the stairs and walkways, the destruction of which had made the journey down after said battle such a nightmare. He was grateful for this now, as he crested the top, Gareth hot on his heels.

They weren't alone in coming to the Spire now that it was lit up, many citizens from the Maizelands and village had made the trek. They crowded around the base, faces turned up, squinting in the nearly noonday sun.

Erend pushed as politely through the crowd as he could with the level of desperation clawing at the inside of his chest. He got to the base of the Spire for that desperation to be replaced with bitter disappointment.

There was absolutely nothing to see here, other than more people milling around surprised at the sudden change in the monument.

The old metal devil head that had housed Hades had been carried off well over a year before, yet Erend’s eyes hung where it had been. The spot where he had watched Aloy dispatch it with a stab of an electrified lance.

Gareth had caught up to him, falling in line at his shoulder.

“She isn't here,” Erend says simply.

He knows he doesn't have to say who he means. Knows they are both well aware of the one person Erend had expected and hoped to find.

This of course begged the question why HAD the Spire come to life.

He backed up, craning his neck to look up at it. The panels had stopped moving, locking into place, glittering with blue energy.

“What could it mean?” Gareth asked, shielding his eyes from the sun with a hand to his forehead.

“I don't know,” Erend answered, shaking his head. “But unless it turns red I'm not panicking just yet.”

He beckoned his friend and fellow Vanguard to follow him, not wanting to be there anymore.

She wasn't there.

—————-

“Call back the aggressive machines first,” Aloy said, highlighting different areas on the map. “Replace them with ones of actual use.”

Aloy wasn't sure where her clarity of mind was coming from, a certain portion of her brain was still in shock that this was actually happening. GAIA had control. She had everything back.

_‘Would you like to see All-Mother mountain? There's a Glinthawk out that way.’_

“Sure, why not,” Aloy answered.

It's snowing in the Motherland, flakes falling heavily across the video, a slow gliding pan as the bird circled the mountain. The frozen husk of the metal devil somehow surprised Aloy, despite the fact she had grown up living in its shadow.

“You can really see anywhere now,” Aloy breathed, realizing this meant she could actually leave. Actually go somewhere else and not lose contact with GAIA.

_‘Where else would you like to see?’_

GAIA asked this, then without waiting for an answer Meridian appeared on the screen again. The sun was setting, the buildings illuminated in warm glowing light.

Aloy knew what was coming, she steeled herself for it, dropping the leg she had been sitting on to face the screens. GAIA appeared on the left hand monitor, leaving the view of Meridian front and center.

_‘I told you it would take a week.’_

This caught Aloy off guard, she laughed realizing they'd actually finished one day short of the week. “You were right.”

Silence fell over the control room for a few moments, Aloy unable to keep her eyes from the Meridian skyline, the sky behind it turning from red to blue.

_‘Now that this is done, perhaps we can return to our conversation from a few days ago.’_

There it was. Aloy frowned, closing her eyes and biting back a slew of curse words. “Don't you have like a million things to do now?” Aloy asked.

_‘I am doing all those things also. You said we would discuss this once the network was back online. It is.’_

“I don't know why I expected the victory dance to last a bit longer,” Aloy huffed, kicking her feet up onto the desk top.

GAIA was frowning from the left hand monitor at her. Aloy wondered if this is what it felt to have a mother disapproving of your behavior. It was both annoying and reassuringly familiar at the same time.

“I still don't know,” Aloy hissed. “Is that what you want me to say? I don't know.”

Her eyes go back to the monitor showing the city.

_‘Perhaps I could help.’_

Aloy closed her eyes, letting her head fall gently back onto the neck rest of the chair. “How exactly would you do that?” she asked.

_‘I downloaded some video from your Focus, perhaps if we watched-‘_

“YOU WHAT?!?”

Aloy dropped her feet to the floor with a thud, throwing her hair over her shoulder as she stood. A clenched fist came down next to the keyboard hard enough make it bounce.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost thought this chapter was going to be a streak buster, but I pushed past a tricky spot and netted my 3k for the day. 
> 
> Tomorrow though, I try to do more. We shall see if it pans out.
> 
> Thanks for reading.


	6. I Need the Sun to Break

Aloy had to talk herself out of smashing the monitor GAIA was peering out from. Her fists were clenched at her side, she side stepped the chair to pace behind it.

_‘I downloaded video files from your Focus.’_

The AI repeated this as if Aloy’s exclamation of ‘You what?!?’ had been a mere request for the information to be repeated.

“You know, this takes invasion of privacy to a new level for you,” Aloy said through gritted teeth. “What exactly have you looked at? Wait, who am I kidding, you've watched it all.”

_‘Actually I kept the scope of my search limited mainly to things in regards to the Captain.’_

“Ohhhh, is that all,” Aloy said sarcastically, realizing this was perhaps worse. “And what is it you think you can show me that I haven’t already looked at over the past two years?”

GAIA didn’t speak, she gazed out from the left hand monitor with a calculating look. The middle monitor showed the live feed from the Spire still, night having fully settled, the city lit here and there with torches.

Aloy stopped pacing, staring back at the stern purple hued face.

_‘Please sit.’_

Part of her wanted to refuse. Wanted to turn heel and leave the control room, but the hell if she was going to end this day storming off. So instead Aloy took a deep breath, and slid back into the computer chair.

The right hand screen popped on, and immediately Aloy regretted sitting down.

It was a view of a Meridian street, in a state of rebuild. She was looking around herself at the damage being worked on, all a remnant of the Eclipse attack. Then the view shifted down and to the left, a pair of clasped hands coming into frame.

The fingers of her own hand woven between thickly gloved ones. Panning up, over the yellow striped fabric clad arm, to Erend’s face. He wasn’t looking at her, facing ahead to where they were walking, with a look of sad determination.

Of all the memories for GAIA to choose, it was the one Aloy has always avoided.

The video showed the last bit of a walk to the Eastern gate out of Meridian. Erend stopped her here, as far as he would go. He turned to look down at her, his eyes sad but his lips forming a small smile. Perhaps because her hand had drifted to his face.

“I'm going to miss you,” he says, bringing his own hand up to rest on hers.

“I'm going to miss you too,” Aloy heard herself say.

It hurt even worse than the first time, the way he looks at her, as if she's something precious.

“You take care of yourself out there,” he says.

“I will if you will.”

Suddenly the image is a mess of motion and blur, and the soft sound of kissing. Tears start to sting the corner of Aloy’s eyes, as she clings to the arms of the computer chair.

Then it's him looking at her again, a long moment she remembers well, before she glances over her shoulder down the length of the bridge.

“I know, you've got to go,” he says, with a shrug that doesn't quite cover what it costs him to say this. “Just like the last time you left, I can't help but feel lucky to have gotten even a moment of your time.”

Her hand is back on his cheek, his eyes close for a moment, his head tilting slightly into the touch. The Aloy sitting in the control room can remember how his facial hair felt, remember how he smelled.

“I hate to ask this of you again, but try not to forget about me, while you're out there changing the world,” he says.

“I could never forget about you, Erend,” Aloy’s voice is all but a whisper, and they're kissing again.

“I know it might take a long time. You told me as much,” he said, his face so close to hers, a look of endearing desperation in his eyes. “But however long it takes, just try to come back to me.”

The view of the camera bobs, because as Aloy remembers it she couldn't speak, nodding instead. She bestowed one last kiss on his lips, before departing down the bridge.

Tears flowed freely down Aloy’s face, her eyes glued to the monitor. The walk down the bridge is taking a painfully long time, but then just at the end, the view turns.

She'd looked back one last time.

Erend stood framed in the arch where the bridge transitioned to the mesa. He lifted his arm, waving her farewell.

GAIA stopped the playback here, with him frozen on screen, hand held high.

_‘Was that the last time you saw him?’_

Aloy can’t breath, her face damp from crying. The words echo in her head ‘come back to me’.

“Yes,” she managed to choke out. “Two years, one week, and three days ago.”

What had she done? Two years, his last words to her a plea for her return and what had she done?

She planted her elbows on the desk top, and rested her face in the palms of her hands. Her breath coming in ragged bursts as she barely held back sobs. This was not how this day was supposed to feel. GAIA seemed to know not to say anything. She let the girl cry it out, Erend’s image still up on one monitor.

It wasn't until Aloy lifted her head again, hiccuping back the last dregs of her emotional outburst, that GAIA proceeded.

_‘I think you have to go to Meridian.’_

“I don't know about HAVE to,” Aloy murmured, tugging at her own hair. “That…” She swallows trying to push down the lump that had developed in her throat. “Was a long time ago.”

_‘However long it takes. His words.’_

Erend HAD said that. But it's easy to say things like that, it's much different in practice. Much different actually being left to wait for months that turned into years.

“What if I'm too late?”

The question is in the air before Aloy realized she'd said it out loud. GAIA doesn't miss a beat, she shakes her digital head, locking eyes with Aloy through the monitor and asks...

_‘What if you're not?’_

Aloy let out a long sigh. This idea somehow scared her just as much as the alternative, her stomach full of fluttering as her eyes slid back to his image.

“I suppose now is when you tell me there's only one way to find out,” Aloy said, sinking back into the chair. “And maybe you're right but at the moment all I want to think about is my bed.”

_‘Very well. Get some sleep.’_

Blinking, Aloy stood from the chair. She couldn't believe the AI was letting her off the hook this easy. “Goodnight, GAIA.”

‘Tomorrow is the first day in a very different life for you. I hope you realize that.’

Aloy didn't answer. She met GAIA’s eyes one last time and then evacuated the control room.

She expected to lay up dwelling. Her mind was a fog of thoughts and memories as she slid off her pants, climbing into bed wearing just the shirt. Her body felt so heavy, still fatigued from the radiation exposure earlier.

She mushed the pillow, before burning her face in it, her legs sprawled beneath the covers. She'd deal with tomorrow when it got here, right now she was too tired to do anything but fall asleep.

—————-

  
To say his evening tea and brief with the King had been unusual would have been an understatement. Erend has arrived half dazed, to find Marad and the King just as floored as he was.

He'd told them that he'd already gone up to the Alight to investigate. Told them that aside from the fact the Spire was glowing nothing else was different.

“So… no one was there?” Avad asked, pressing the fingertips of his hands together thoughtfully. “Could someone be accessing it from somewhere else?”

Erend hadn't considered this. But his knowledge on matters like this was limited. He knew that the Spire could send signals, remembered from two years before, but could it receive them? React to something nowhere nearby?

“With this shit, anything seems possible,” Erend answered. Marad, who was sitting across the tea table from him, let out a chuckle.

“I can't help but be reminded of Aloy,” the dark skinned advisor straightened up. His brown eyes came to Erend’s.

The Vanguard had to try very hard not to squirm under the examining gaze. Hearing anyone other than himself speak her name after all this time was like a shock to the senses.

“Not going to lie, I half expected to find her up there,” Erend admitted, for something to say.

Both men were nodding, clearly he wasn't the only one to have had this thought. He let the silence drag out, staring at his own hands now clasped together in his lap.

“How long has it been since you've heard from her?” Avad asked, slowly and delicately.

Erend could feel the King’s eyes upon him. He didn't want to meet them, shaking his head. “It's been a long long time,” he answered. “She… came through a few months back. Some of the men saw her, talked with her at the gates. I was away. Apparently she said she couldn't stop for long, disappeared into the night not long after.”

Couldn’t stop. Wouldn’t stop. Erend was due back the following evening, less than thirty six hours later, but no.

Aloy had more important things to do, she couldn’t wait just a day and a half for him to return to the city.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Avad said, there was a tone of pity in his voice that made Erend angry.

He wanted to flip the tea table, shout that he didn’t need the royal’s pity. That he didn’t need Aloy, and her broken promises. And he certainly didn’t need the damn Spire to be lighting up and causing a panic in the city.

Erend wanted to do all those things, instead he gave a shrug. “It is what it is.”

Once dismissed, Erend didn't go straight home. Instead he headed to the market for some food and a bottle of liquor. No ale or mead was going to cut it tonight.

He ate nearly a whole loaf of bread when he reached his apartment. Then he unsealed the bottle, pouring himself a healthy portion into the bottom of a glass.

Sipping it slowly at first, he turned over the days events in his mind. It couldn’t mean nothing, he knew that much. But he feared the small hopeful voice in the back of his mind.

All hoping Aloy would turn up had ever gotten him was disappointment.

Erend drank several glasses, hunched over his dining room table. It was getting late, and he knew despite the intoxicated fog that had crept over him that he should stop. He took one last gulp of the liquor, this time straight from the bottle, before pushing his chair back from the table.

The sudden need for fresh air surprised him, but he was in the loose uninhibited embrace of alcohol, choosing not to fight it.

He nearly took the bottle with him, but thought better of it at the last second before leaving, kicking the front door closed behind him.

Erend’s gait was uneven, the alcohol hitting him more and more with each step. Fortunately as late as it was there was hardly anyone to play witness to his wobbliness.

Of the three gazebos that hung over the edge of the mesa near the elevators, two were occupied with couples. Erend had to make sure to turn his back to them, as he reached the railing inside the third, looking out over the valley towards the Alight.

It was even more breathtaking at night, the blue shimmering glow that rippled along the Spire. It pierced the star speckled sky, tall and mysterious.

“Why now?” Erend asked it, as if the thing could answer him. “Two years you stand there like a giant stick in the mud. Now look at you.”

Erend spat over the railing, his mouth tasted heavily of alcohol, his head swimming. Somehow, the glow of the spire was calming. He hadn’t expected that. He leaned on the railing, unable to tear his eyes from it.

He lost track of how long he stood there. His mind had turned, as it inevitably always did, to Aloy.

Even if she wasn’t the reason this was happening, if she was there she would sure to have a lot more ideas as to why than anyone else could come up with.

This was, after all, her area of expertise.

Could use this as an excuse to go and find her, a tiny voice in the back of his mind suggests. As if he’d even know where to start. A two years cold trail would present quite the challenge to piece back together.

“No, she never wanted me to come after her,” Erend said to no one in particular.

Finally, he turned from the Spire, leaving the gazebo to stumble back home.

—————-

  
When Aloy awoke the next morning, she chose not to get up. She rolled over on to her back, pulled the covers up to her chin, and stared at the flat gray color of the ceiling.

Fortunately she'd slept like the dead, and her body at least felt rested from it. Her brain was slow to wake up, lifting from a deep sleepy haze. The events of the day before came back to her, and for a moment she considered going back to sleep.

This was the first time in ages she was waking up without a to do list of things to be done to bring the network online.

The network already WAS online.

Then GAIA’s words swam through her consciousness. Was today the first day of a new life for her?

Aloy didn't feel any different. Perhaps a degree or two more relieved. She hadn't been convinced she could actually do it until it was done.

She wanted to check in on things. To see what GAIA had been up to while she’d been sleeping. But the way they'd left their discussion the night before made her hesitate.

Instead she gathered some clean clothes and a towel, and padded barefoot down the hall to the shower pod.

The truth was, Aloy was pretty angry with GAIA. She was sure that the AI had meant well, but downloading the files from Aloy’s Focus had violated one of just a handful of private spaces she had left.

Adjusting to the constant presence of another being hadn't exactly been easy. Especially one as omnipotent as GAIA. She missed nothing. Was there always. Aloy had gone from a lone wolf to feeling like she had a tiny person on her shoulder constantly.

Well, maybe not constantly, Aloy thought as she lathered her hair, the AI didn't have access to her in the shower for example. Aloy tilted her face up, letting the hot water from the tap flow over her face down the back of her hair.

The shower might be the thing she would miss most when she left the facility.

Aloy’s eyes popped open. She ran her hands down her hair twisting it. She could leave, but did she really want to?

Funny how for months she hated and felt prisoner living in the facility. Yet now it was home and the idea of leaving it was mildly terrifying.

Did she even remember how to feed herself without a food synthesizer?

Inevitably, as she rubbed soap along her flanks, her mind turned to the Erend of it all. Seeing their final farewell again had been gut wrenching, but it had also been cathartic. She'd avoided it for so long, GAIA had just ripped off the bandaid.

The wound had bled a little but that was to be expected.

Aloy tried to imagine what it would be like to return to Meridian. Maybe find Erend while he was doing rounds. She would tell him what she'd done and he'd be proud of her. The two years would go on an unspoken blight on their history. Water under the bridge.

As if she had luck like that.

She stepped from the shower, setting to toweling her naked body dry.

What was the alternative? Aloy asked herself this, twisting her hair up into a towel turban. GAIA was not going to accept her staying here, a weird old recluse.

She could go to the Motherland. Revisit the lands where she grew up, visit… Teb perhaps?

No, definitely not the Motherland.

Aloy wriggled into her cotton pants, tying the drawstring then forced her toweled head through the neck hole of a shirt. She fought with the garment to twist it the right way around, all the while it stuck to her skin still damp from the shower.

It wasn't like Erend was the ONLY reason Meridian would be a good place to go. Aloy could name a number of reasons why the city would be a convenient place to settle. First off, the Spire, a base level component of GAIA’s network, would be right there. Second, the Sun King had always been amicable and that meant support when needed, and resources.

The fact that the only man she'd ever had romantic feelings for was there was just an additional draw.

It wasn't most important thing the city had in its pro column.

At least that's what she told herself as she reached her bedroom. She slid her shoes on, and pressed her Focus onto her face before departing for the control room.

_‘Good morning, Aloy. How did you sleep?’_

Aloy had barely breeched the door, GAIA had obviously been anticipating her arrival. There was already a warm buttery croissant ready in the synthesizer along with a cup of hot tea.

“I slept well,” she said, taking her breakfast to the console and sitting down. “Talk to me.”

GAIA launched into a run down of what she'd been doing with the machines out in the field. The map came up, and Aloy listened while she stuffed her face with flaky croissant.

_‘Cauldron production currently at 0% until I can call back and disassemble the ones we are cutting from the line up.’_

“Good. That's good,” Aloy said, pushing the now empty plate away from her. “And then you can recycle the resources from those machines into new ones.”

_‘Precisely.’_

Silence fell for a few moments, Aloy sipped her tea. She resisted the urge to pull up Meridian on the map, remembering the video feed from the night before. The question hung in the air, and Aloy was almost relieved when GAIA finally voiced it.

_‘Have you thought anymore about what you will do now? Have you decided?’_

Aloy looked down into her cup, swishing around the last couple sips inside.

“Actually I think I might have.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ball just keeps rolling along just how I imagined and I'm honestly in shock. 
> 
> I would leave a longer note but I wanna see how many more words I can get in before bed. 
> 
> Thanks for coming along with me on my NaNoWriMo adventure.


	7. You've Woken Up My Heart

Erend woke up, dazed, hunched over onto his arms which were folded on the top of his dining table. Liquor had been a mistake, he thought, pushing himself up onto his elbows.

The sleeves of his shirt were wet, and it took a minute for him to realize this was because the bottle had been knocked over. It was now impossible to tell how much he’d drank versus how much had spilled.

Based on the headache, Erend was fairly sure he had imbibed more rather than less

He was just managing to get to his feet when the familiar hammering knock came from the front door. The sound was head splitting. Erend winced at it before going to answer. His hand was nearly to the handle with another round of bangs sounded, this time with his face inches from it the pain was all the worse.

“Fuck,” he muttered, swinging the door open, a hand gripping the side of his head.

“Well, you’re on your feet, so that’s a good start,” Gareth said, brushing past Erend to come inside.

“Please, stop shouting,” Erend begged, going back to the table. He started to sink back down into the chair.

“Oh no you don’t,” Gareth hissed in a half-whisper that nonetheless still made Erend’s head throb. “Up stairs. Into uniform. We have rounds to do.”

Erend groaned, allowing his friend to shove and push him towards the stairs. He dressed as quickly as he could, he was maybe half way through when he remembered about the Spire. The memory of him shouting at it from the gazebo floated to the forefront of his hungover mind.

Shit it was about to be a long day.

This proved itself true almost immediately. The questions from every Vanguard in regards to the Spire’s sudden activity were relentless. Erend was short on answers, and by the time he reached lunch was sour from the interrogations.

“Suppose we should have seen that coming,” Gareth said, as they sank down at a table to eat. They'd come down to eat in the Village at a deli with the best sandwiches around. There were a couple outdoor tables, and the one they'd sat in had a direct line of sight up to the Spire, glittering blue in the afternoon sun.

“Probably,” Erend agreed, peeling his eyes from the tower and unwrapping his sandwich. They ate in silence, Erend relieved to find the food was finally settling in his stomach without feeling nauseous.

“You doing alright?” Gareth asked, as he balled up the paper from his food.

“Am I ever doing alright?” Erend asked, his mouth full of half chewed meat and bread.

“Fair point,” Gareth said. He looked thoughtful up towards the Spire. Clouds were rolling in above it, dark ones. “Looks like rain.”

Erend laughed despite himself, swallowing down the last bite of food. “Shit, we’re talking about the weather now?” he asked incredulously. “Spire is right there, still lit up, but sure does look like rain.”

They laughed together then, sidling out from behind the benches they'd been seated upon. They tossed their wrappers in a bin, returning to their rounds.

This, however, wasn't meant to be. Before they reached the Maizelands a messenger from the Palace caught up to them. It was one of the Carja guards, the feathers atop his helmet bobbing as he trotted after them.

“Captain. Captain!”

“Yeah, what is it?” Erend asked as the man skid to a halt alongside them on the stone laid road.

“His majesty requests your presence,” the man panted. “It seems there's been some sort of development.”

Erend is past the man and on his way back up the path towards the elevators before the guard has finished speaking. Gareth would have to finish rounds on his own.

—————-

Aloy let the silence stretch out, avoiding GAIA’s piercing gaze. Somehow actually speaking it would make it real, and as the words reached her lips they had faltered. “I think,” she repeated these two words again.

Meridian popped up on the side screen, and still the AI didn't speak.

“It… it makes the most sense,” Aloy said, her eyes drawn to the city skyline, the way the sun illuminated the rock face of the mesa. “Doesn't it?”

She was almost ashamed at how badly she needed someone to confirm this for her. To reassure her it DID make sense. Her mind was a scramble, she watched as an elevator rose the length of the mesa from the village below.

_‘It is the only course of action that makes any sense.’_

Aloy nodded. “Then its settled. I'm… I’m going back to Meridian.”

_‘We will begin preparations immediately. I'll line up transport, you need to start packing.’_

For a second, Aloy feels like she might throw her breakfast back up. She pushed the chair back from the desk top, throwing her hands up almost defensively.

“Woah woah woah,” she breathed. “What's the rush? I mean, Meridian isn't going anywhere.”

GAIA is suddenly on all three screens, her stern face looking at her from every direction, and when she spoke it was like a chorus of her.

_‘Two years. One week. And now four days. How many more do you plan on adding before you stop hiding?’_

  
“I'm not…” Aloy trailed off, realizing that the end of that sentence would have been a blatant lie.

Shit, was she hiding? She was, after all, scared to go back. A fear that had grown worse the more time that had slid by. It had become somewhat of a self fulfilling prophesy. The longer she was away the more she told herself he would be upset upon her return. So the more she avoided it and the more time passed.

It was a cycle she'd been trapped in for two years, always using the excuse of her work as reasoning.

Her work, however, was done.

“H-how soon will this transport be ready?” Aloy’s voice was betraying the feelings warring inside her.

_‘I began fabrication at cauldron Xi while you slept. It will arrive here in twenty four hours.’_

Aloy’s lungs seemed to forget to work. She raked her fingers through her hair, twisting the ginger locks. It took her a bit to say anything at all, as she gasps and gulps for air like she's drowning right there in the control room.

“TOMORROW?!?” She half shouts this as she comes to her senses. “You want me to leave and go back to Meridian TOMORROW.”

—————-

The King was in the sitting room when Erend arrived at the Sun Palace. Marad was there also, perched on the edge of one of the lush benches, filing through a stack of unfurled scrolls.

“Ah, Captain, sit please,” Avad greeted.

The King had a surprisingly content look upon his face. Erend was half tempted to look around for his wife as usually her presence was the only thing to give Avad any sort of smile.

Erend settled down in his usual seat, sparing a look at the papers Marad was still scouring through.

“We've received some… reports,” Avad said, in answer to this. “Some very interesting reports.”

“What sort of reports?” Erend asked, hastily adding “Sir?”

“Reports of tame machines.”

This wasn't anything Erend would have expected. The word tame brings back all sorts of emotions inside him, as it was so very much associated to Aloy. The machine tamer. Who tamed machines and rode them into battle.

“How many?” Erend asked. He meant how many reports, eying the stack again, but the answer he received drove this actual query from his mind.

“All of them,” the King said, straightening up in his seat.

Erend’s stared back, surely having misunderstood. “Say again?”

“All of them, Erend.” It was Marad who answered this time, dropping the scrolls in his hand back onto the pile, and sitting back. “If these reports are painting an accurate picture, every machine has gone tame.”

When Erend doesn't say anything Marad goes on, picking up reports again.

“Some talk about a blue glow, and herds that allow humans to pass within feet without being roused. Others report that aggressive machines they've been struggling with have also calmed, even leaving.”

“The Spire,” Erend managed, looking from one man to another.

Avad was nodding. “We don't know how, or why,” he said. “But it seems the Spire must be calming the machines.”

It was an odd meeting. There wasn't anything that needed to be done about the situation per se, other than to keep a weather eye and let it unfold. No one mentions Aloy this time, though she had to have crossed all of their minds.

—————-

_‘That is accurate. Tomorrow. Unless you have pressing plans I am unaware of.’_

Aloy groaned, spinning in the computer chair, curled in it like an animal, her face pressed against the backrest where her shoulder usually would be. She would always rue the day GAIA picked up the art of sarcasm from their interactions.

“Surely there's a few more things to take care of around here?” Aloy grasped. “Have to make sure this place can stay running without maintenance.”

_‘That's no longer your concern.’_

Aloy stopped the chair abruptly, facing the monitor. GAIA had fortunately gone back down to one, as the triplicate voice had been unnerving.

“How exactly is that so?” Aloy asked. “How is that suddenly something I don't need to worry about?”

‘ _With the cauldrons back I can forge machines to maintain this facility. To maintain the network, and all its components. How do you think I did it for the centuries between?’_

It took some thought for Aloy to realize she meant the centuries between human life. This wasn't something Aloy had ever considered. Somehow it had never been discussed, and now that it occurred to her it seemed obvious.

“You… don't need me anymore.” Aloy's voice was small, as the realization had robbed her of a bit of her gusto.

_‘Of COURSE I still need you. I just don't need you here. Now that the network is online someone has to gauge the thing no censor can gauge: the people.’_

Aloy didn't quite understand what this meant, and the confusion must have shown on her face.

_‘Humans are a strange species. They're chaotic. They're unpredictable. Things are suddenly changing around them, they're going to need someone to explain it to them.’_

“Explain? How would I even begin?” Aloy actually laughed at the insanity of the idea. She tried to imagine discussing networks and cauldron production with the Sun King and it seemed outlandish.

_‘I couldn't tell you. People aren't exactly my forte. I never knew how Elisabet managed it, but something tells me you'll figure it out. Perhaps with some help from Erend.’_

“Hey, not necessary,” Aloy hissed, spiking at the Erend jab tacked on at the end.

_‘I beg to differ, I recognize when you need the push.’_

Aloy bit back a slew of unhelpful responses, admitting this was indeed accurate. GAIA knew exactly how and when to push her.

“How would I even move some of the things?” Aloy asked, glancing to the food synthesizer.

_‘Some things I will send along later.’_

Aloy blinked, turning back to the monitor. “What about a console? I'm going to need a console.” She thought of how bulky the one in her room was, and didn't fancy the idea of hauling it along.

_‘You've got the portable holo monitor you found a couple weeks back. Anything more substantial, as I said, I can send along later.’_

“Send along how exactly?”

_‘Aloy do you really want to spend some of your last day here in the facility discussing the logistics of hardware delivery over distances? I can indulge if you so like, but I feel packing might be a better use of your time.’_

Aloy let out a long sigh, sliding from the chair. “Fine.”

Therefore, even though the mere notion terrified her, Aloy retreated to her room to pack.

At first all she did was sit, cross legged, on the bed, reminding herself how to breath. In and out and in again. Good job lungs, just keep doing that.

It was too fast.

It was alarmingly fast.

Yet she knew she had to go through with it. GAIA had hit the nail on the head, she was hiding.

Aloy had never been one to hide from things before. She'd changed headlong into any challenge that had presented itself to her. She'd faced the end of the world, and come out the other side of it.

Yet she was hiding from consequence.

For that, she realized, was the real thing that she'd been afraid to face in Meridian: the consequences of her actions. She'd run from the consequences of the battle, having stayed long enough to get the recovery underway, before charging off on her task.

And then she'd stayed away fearing the consequences of leaving Erend behind.

Aloy rose from the bed, the compartment had a closet, and she'd filled it with things from her life before and her life during the reconstruction of GAIA. Inside was the large leather duffle bag she'd used nine months before to move from the Prime facility. She sat it up on the bed, looking momentarily into the empty depths of it.

There was no point putting off the inevitable any longer, she told herself, as she began to pack.

—————-

Gareth was waiting for Erend at the bar. He'd already shed his armor, and rolled his striped shirt up over his elbows, revealing tan arms.

“I knew you'd come,” Gareth said in an over dramatic voice, before shooting the captain a sideways smile.

“I'm not anything if not predictable,” Erend said, sliding onto his bar stool. A tankard arrived for him without need to request it, and he drank deeply, sucking down the first third in one go.

“Damn, what the hell happened at that meeting?”

Erend wasn't sure if he should say, but the need to talk further about it had not been satiated by his conversation at the palace. He looked over his shoulder, and made sure the bartender was at the other end of the bar before finally leaning towards his friend and speaking in a low voice.

“You see, the thing is that now that the Spire has lit up the machines all around the Sundom have gone,” Erend searches for a word, any other word but he can't think of one. “Tame.”

Gareth stares at him, giving him the chance to take another deep sip of mead.

“Tame,” Gareth repeats the word, as if surely he must have forgotten what it meant. As if it couldn't mean what he thinks it means.

“Yup,” Erend answered, attempting nonchalance. “Reports from all over. Machines leaving people well alone, some even leaving populated areas. It's crazy.”

He feels the question coming before it's said.

“Do you think it's her?”

“Damnit Gareth, I made it nearly all day without anyone asking me that,” Erend said. Then he laughs, because of course it had to be her.

No one else it could be. A tiny part of him felt relieved. It meant she was alive. Somewhere out there pulling the strings from afar. Still changing the world.

Another part of him, a nasty voice in the back of his mind, rankled at the idea she was alive and well, playing puppet master with the machines around him. Never once returning to see him.

He laughed a hollow, choking laugh to keep from crying.

The tankard was empty though he had little recollection of emptying it. He summoned another, before turning back to find Gareth looking at him, brows furrowed in concern.

“What?” Erend sipped the mead, staring back.

“You didn't actually answer the question,” his friend returned. “Unless you count a maniacal laugh that will probably revisit me in my nightmares as a… yes?”

“It was that, yeah.”

They let the conversation lapse, drinking in silence for a while. Erend was still a mess of conflicting emotions but with each drink this chaos seemed to calm.

“What're you going to do when she turns back up?” Gareth asked.

Erend wondered if Gareth had intentionally waited for more drinks to be finished before asking this.

“If she turns back up. If,” Erend hissed. “If she did, I…”

Erend didn't actually know how to finish that sentence. There were a million variables in his mind. A million circumstances. Would she come find him? Would he find out from someone else she was there?

“Solid plan,” Gareth joked, after nearly a minute of silence.

They both laugh, gripping their tankards in one hand and each other's arms with the other. Gareth didn't press for more after this, he just let Erend down one last drink, then carted him off home before he could get too trashed.

“You're the best babysitter, Gar,” Erend said, as his friend deposited him upon the doorstep to his apartment.

“One day there'll be a time when you don't need me to do this anymore,” Gareth said, reaching past and opening the door.

Erend's legs felt heavy, he went straight for the couch, flopping down on his back. “I wouldn't hold my breath for that,” he said.

“Oh I won't, but I still think the time will come,” Gareth said. “Call it a hunch.”

There was no time for a response to this, as Gareth had turned heal and left, closing the door behind him.

Erend summoned the energy to lift himself off the sofa long enough to shed his armor. He let it fall to the floor wherever it liked, before turning to belly flop onto the sofa.

His mind was a pleasant mush of things, he couldn't focus on any of them and that was just as he needed it. In this state, sleep came easy.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PHEW almost seriously didn't make this one in time! What an excellent first 6 days of NaNoWriMo. Actually let's just call it the first week because the Frozen wilds expansion is tomorrow and I can't promise I'm writing tomorrow evening. 
> 
> I'm running five days ahead on target word count to get the prerequisite 50,000 words for the month. I built this up anticipating being derailed by video game. ;-)
> 
> Soooo see ya Wednesday at the earliest and as always thanks for reading my blathering.


	8. I'm Shaking

Aloy wouldn't call what she did that night sleep. There were periods where she slept, for sure. But there were also periods she lied awake, or tossed and turned. Several times she resisted simply getting up and getting on the console.

The fact GAIA would see her on was a serious detractor to the idea, so she'd stayed in bed and captured any window of sleep she could.

Somehow, she managed to drag herself from the bed at her usual hour, drowning some of her tiredness in a hot shower. She returned to her room with a towel around her head, and a second clung around her torso.

It wouldn't do to turn up on Meridian wearing odd ancient clothing, she'd dug out the best armor she had.

The Shield-Weaver armor was actually also a relic of the ancient ones, but overlayed over Nora style skirt flaps. It still would stand out, but for very different reasons. The hexagonal shield panels occasionally flashed with energy, rippling down the bodice.

Aloy began tugging its pieces on, realizing just how long it had been since she'd worn anything so form fitting. The top was made out of some sort of high tech material that was both sturdy and flexible. It hugged every curve, and left little to the imagination.

This was improved by the addition of the breastplate and power component for the shield mechanism itself. Layer after layer she assembled the armor, slid on the skirt, fastened on the pouch lined belt.

She saved the shoulder pieces for after she'd released her hair from its towel, and spent some time rebraiding it. She tossed the stream of ginger to flow down her back, before finally attaching the last pieces of the armor.

Aloy examined herself in the mirror after this. She was looking more like her old self than she had in a long time, and even if the whole thing felt claustrophobically tight at the moment, she knew it was the right thing to wear.

Before doubts could get the better of her, she shoved a couple last minute things into her leather duffel before shouldering it. She took one last look around the tiny metal compartment she’d slept in for nine months.

Aloy would have never expected once it was time to leave that a part of her would want to stay. She stood framed in the compartment door for a long while fidgeting with the strap on her bag. Then she turned and left, closing the metal hatch behind her with a clang.

All three monitors were scrolling with rapid data when Aloy reached the control room. It was moving too quickly for her to read anything. She let her bag fall off of her shoulder and into the chair, leaning over the desk top to squint at the information as it streamed by.

 _‘Environmental data from every machine in the field.’_ GAIA explained without Aloy needing to ask.

“You’re processing it so fast,” Aloy said, gazing raptly at the scrolling info. “Faster than I can read it.”

_‘One of the many things I was designed to do.’_

The food synthesizer made a tone behind Aloy. GAIA had prepared her breakfast, and today it was no pastry. Instead, Aloy found a hot plate on which was heaped bacon, pancakes and eggs.

“Spoiling me with this,” Aloy said. She moved her bag to the floor so she could sit at the desk and eat. The middle monitor before her went blank, to be replaced by GAIA’s face a second later.

_‘Thought you might need it, since you’ll have to leave the synthesizer behind.’_

Aloy took her time eating, savoring the food. She tried not to think about what was to come after. Usually breakfast was when Aloy planned her day and made her mental list of tasks. She realized however, as she shoveled eggs into her mouth, that her to do list only contained one task: depart for Meridian.

_‘Query: how are you feeling this morning?’_

GAIA was perceptive as always, her violet tinted eyes never wavering from Aloy’s face.

“Nervous I guess,” she answered, now pushing the food around on her plate more than eating it.

_‘There’s nothing to be nervous about.’_

Aloy snorted sarcastically. “I can name plenty of reasons to be,” she said, letting her fork clink down onto the plate. “What if something happens on the way and I don’t make it? What if the network crashes and I lose contact with you? What if I get there and -“

_‘Aloy, you’ve traveled further alone without transport and nothing ever prevented you from reaching your destination.’_

Well sure, that’s true I guess but…” GAIA however didn’t give her a chance to finish speaking before continuing.

_‘Also, should the network crash and I’m unable to bring it back up, you would return here. I’m not banishing you forever from the facility.’_

“Well it slightly feels like you are,” Aloy said in a small voice.

Silence fell, aside of course from the hum of the computers. GAIA’s face had gone from stubborn and aggravated to sad in the spanse of Aloy’s last statement. In a rare moment, she’d even closed her eyes.

_‘Aloy, you have to understand, I’m trying to give you your life back.’_

“I wasn’t meant to have a life,” Aloy snapped. “That’s not what you made me for.”

There it was. The thing they never spoke of. The thing that had affected Aloy and how she had lived “her life” ever since she’d found out. She was only created to stop Hades and rebuild GAIA. A human tool to open doors, reconnect wires, and rebuild facilities.

_‘That’s why you never tried to go back.’_

“Not entirely, no. Maybe at first,” Aloy answered, fidgeting with the armor she was wearing, not used to sitting in the computer chair in such clothing. “Hard to justify putting your life’s purpose on hold for a guy, you know. I felt guilty every night I spent with him when I should have been… here I guess.”

_‘I asked too much of you. Like Elisabet before you. Just like her, you gave me your time and finally I can give one of you some time back. Your transport. It's here.’_

Aloy’s next words die in her throat.

_‘It's waiting for you outside the main entrance. It's time.’_

—————-

It wasn't that Erend hadn't believed the reports, he had. Seeing it with his own eyes was another thing entirely.

He had walked up the river from the edge of the Maizelands to the East, and was now standing within feet of a blue glowing Snapmaw. The creature had paused to consider him when he arrived, Erend’s hand gripping his weapon still affixed to his back, but the machine had found him decidedly uninteresting.

It was tame.

“Un fucking believable,” Gareth said, standing at the Captains shoulder. “Think this is what it was like before the derangement?”

Erend considers this, turning on the slightly muddy river bank to look further down river where other Snapmaws, also glowing blue, were swimming.

“I guess so,” he said. “That's how they tell it anyway, that the machines used to never attack unless attacked first.”

They walked back after this, taking a strep trail to the right up to the Eastern Bridge and across back into the city to continue their rounds.

—————-

Unlike the facilities in the North which were built into mountains, the Zero Dawn back up facility was buried underground. This meant that after securing the large round security door, Aloy had to scale a derelict elevator shaft to get out.

It had been a long time since last she had to make the climb, so it took her a bit longer than she felt it should have. The duffel bag was a bit cumbersome, but she managed it. Finally slinging the bag over the top, through the elevator doors that were asunder still from where she had pried them open months ago.

Aloy heaved herself up, the palms of her hands pressed against tile floor as she swung her legs up behind her.

_‘Excellent climbing.’_

“Thanks,” Aloy said, catching her breath. She was standing in the smallest of rooms, just large enough to house the elevator door and controls, straight ahead was a steep stairwell.

She climbed them two at a time, until she swung open the door at the top, bright sunlight streaming in. Aloy had to cover her eyes a bit, suddenly realizing she hadn’t seen the actual sunlight in months.

The door was built into the side of a hill. The frame set right in with grass climbing up the rise on either side of it. At a glance it might look like a normal hill, but the longer you looked the more it seemed off. Too symmetrical, too even at the top. A man made hill to conceal the entrance to the facility buried deep below.

There were more hills around, real ones. Peppered with tall grass, and wild flowers, perched on one of those was a Stormbird, but there was something different about it.

It wasn’t the blue glow, that she’d seen before, though usually after great effort to get near enough the flying monstrosity to get her spear in it for an override. No, it was designed slightly different, and as she got closer she realized there was a seat on the back.

_‘You’re transport.’_

Aloy scanned it with her focus, it literally displayed the species name as “Aloy’s Transport”. It also showed a cargo area underneath in the birds belly.

“I’m going to fly on that?” Aloy asked, her steps slowing, only a few paces from the machine now.

_‘Yes, the flight will be twelve to fourteen hours, seat is cushioned so hopefully you won’t be too uncomfortable.’_

Reaching out a hand, Aloy stepped just under the neck of the bird, here she found a small control that opened up the machines breast plate. The compartment was just large enough for the duffle. Aloy uncinched the top and scooped out her light cotton ancient blanket.

Her belongings safely stowed, Aloy stepped back and looked up at the seat on the back of the Stormbird, nestled between its wing joints. She was about to ask if she was meant to climb up it when her Focus activated, yellow highlighting convenient spots for foot and finger holds.

It was significantly easier than climbing the elevator shaft, at least.

The seat had a curved metal back, with cushioning inside that looked a lot like the black material the bodice of her armor was made of. The seat was made of the same. It sat low to the back of the machine, so that Aloy had to half fall into it.

She tucked the folded blanked between her side and the curved seat back. There were two distinct spots for her feet that placed her knees at a comfortable slight bend.

_‘There is a safety belt. It's just precautionary.’_

Aloy had to feel in the cracks between the cushion her rump was resting on and the cushions that lined the back and sides of the chair. She found the two straps on either side, bringing them to need in the middle overtop of her own belt.

It took a moment to figure out how to snap it in place, but once she did it was easy to figure out how to tighten it. She grabbed hold of the loose end and pulled.

“Actually, I like that, feels secure,” Aloy said, plucking it like the string on an instrument where it came down next to her hip.

_‘I’m glad.’_

“So… twelve to sixteen hours puts me in Meridian at what hour?” Aloy asked. “What time is it now?”

The sun was not but so high in the sky, Aloy was rusty at determining time with this though.

_‘It’s currently 8 am. You will arrive in Meridian between 8 pm and 10 pm. If you leave now.’_

Aloy swallowed. Trying not to think of where Erend might be between those hours. Realizing that for the first time in two years she was wondering where he was because soon she would be there too.

_‘Are you ready?’_

“I am.” Aloy hadn’t fully convinced herself this was true, but there wasn’t much point in sitting there any longer. The wings on either side of her suddenly extended, immediately beginning to rise and fall.

She had to scoop her hair into one of her hands as the wind generated from the wings had begun to whip it everywhere. So distracted with this Aloy missed the moment the Stormbird’s clawed feed lost contact with the ground.

Suddenly they were in the air. The hills were sliding away below them, and Aloy was holding her breath as they gained height.

The feeling was overwhelming, her stomach seemed to have dropped out of her and been left behind. “We’re flying!” she exclaimed frivolously, lost in the moment of it.

Aloy’s Focus interface came up, showing her the map and the route to their destination. Peppered on it were the settlements and machine grounds she would fly over also.

_‘Should be a nice scenic flight. Don't suppose you'd like some flying music?’_

“Ooh, feel free,” Aloy answered. She was watching as a herd of blue glowing Chargers milled through tall grass down below. They were flying high now so that the machines appeared small enough to fit in the palm of her hand.

A cheerful guitar hook began playing in her ear, soon a tambourine kicked in along with a bass.

“The mountain is high, the valley is loooow,” the words came through the tiny Focus speaker, drums kicking in. “And you're confused on which way to go.”

Aloy was immediately hooked, the wind flowing through her hair, which she was allowing free once more. “What song is this?”

_‘Free Ride by the Edgar Winter Group circa 1972.’_

The years on the music GAIA picked always surprised Aloy. This was many decades before Elisabet Sobeck had even been born.

“I like it,” Aloy said. She settled back in the seat, enjoying the way the beat rose and fell, somehow feeling in sync to the wings of her flying transport.

—————-

Erend's work day was almost at an end. It hadn't been particularly arduous, he hadn't even been very hungover for once. He was midway through his afternoon tea and brief with the King when the conversation inevitably turned from the day to day.

“We received yet more reports of tame machines,” Marad informed him. “From as far North as the border with the Claim and as Far East as the border with the Motherland.”

“Quite the range,” Erend said, setting down his now empty cup on the table. “I actually went and saw a few of these tamed machines myself today.”

This seemed to pique the King’s interest, he had been staring into his cup clearly having already heard the reports Marad had referenced.

“Oh?”

“Took a hike up stream, probably coulda pet a Snapmaw if I had wanted to,” Erend said. He shook his head remembering how it felt standing there among machines he usually had to fight off tooth and nail. “It was eery.”

“I can only imagine,” the King breaths.

Silence fell over the men, Marad and the King exchanged looks. Erend attempted to ignore this, but the hair on the back of his neck felt like it was standing on end beneath his scarf. He felt her name in the air before they even spoke it.

“Erend, could this all be Aloy?” Avad asked.

Erend wanted to laugh this off as he had done when Gareth had asked. But Avad was looking at him in a way he hadn't looked at him in a long time.

They'd once been close as brothers. Once fought side by side. Recent years had proven a test but right now the person looking back at him from beneath the crown was not the King, but Avad.

“I don't see who else it could be,” Erend managed. His words felt thick like mud, and he pulled his eyes away from Avad, looking instead to the tea tray.

“Marad, would you give us a minute?”

Fuck. Erend watched the advisor go, attempting to swallow down the knot blocking his throat.

“I know you don't like to talk about her,” Avad said after a while.

Erend finally looked back to his King. The brown eyes looking back were friendly, even concerned.

“I don't even like to think about her, if I can help it,” Erend admitted. “Not an easy task the past couple days, let me tell you.”

“She's been on my mind as well,” Avad said.

This wasn't something Erend particularly needed to be told, it wasn't a surprise. Not having anything to say he nodded.

“When she left,” Avad began, and Erend wanted to die. He wanted to just cease to be right there on that lush upholstered bench. “You said she had more to do. Did she ever elaborate?”

Erend had to bite back the bitterness that rose in his chest. Avad may be approaching with caution and concern, but this conversation was out of the King’s selfish want to know more. Erend knew he could rise. Be the asshole brute he had been in recent months, but instead he decided to cooperate.

“Not as much as I would have liked,” he said. “She said that stopping Hades was the first step of something bigger. It was all so complex that I can't say I understood it. Something needed to be rebuilt. Something Hades had destroyed twenty years before he came for the Spire.”

Avad looked thoughtful, sitting back in his chair. “She once said the Spire was a part of a bigger system,” Avad said. “When she came to tell me we had to defend it.”

Erend hadn't been there for that. He had been doing rounds, received word via messenger. Aloy had told him the importance when she'd come to brief them. Told him the Spire somehow could make or break the world. That had been enough for him, he hadn't needed to know more.

If the Spire was indeed a part of the thing Aloy had set out from him to rebuild, what did it mean now that it had come to life?

“You will tell me if you hear from her?” Avad asked, as they were parting ways.

Erend wasn't sure that he would, but he agreed to anyway.

Then he practically sprinted the bridge to put distance between himself and the Palace. He told himself to go home. Told himself not to go exactly where he goes.

Before he knows it he's sliding onto his stool at the bar, a tankard sliding to him from the old Oseram bartender. For a second Erend stared down into the liquid amber depths and wondered: did the Spire coming on, taming all the machines, mean that somewhere Aloy had finally succeeded?

Then he took the pint to the head, draining it in one go, dribbling a bit down his front.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, Aloy arrives in Meridian. 
> 
> AND IM SO EFFING READY!
> 
> So I haven't finished the story for Frozen Wilds. As predicted day 7 of NaNo I wrote very little. <300 most of this was written today. 
> 
> I have a three day weekend so tomorrow is my Friday. This should allow me to forge on the word count front AND actually finish Frozen Wilds.
> 
> What I've played so far has been simply fantastic. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	9. All My Luck Could Change

_‘Aloy.’_

Sleep was slowly releasing her, and in her foggy mind she was confused by the breeze in her hair. Perhaps GAIA was running some sort of ventilation procedure on the facility.

_‘Aloy.’_

Consciousness seeped in, and she realized she was moving. She could feel the momentum. She tugged the light blanket tighter around her shoulders, as the air flowing by her was chilly.

_‘Aloy, wake up. We’re getting close.’_

Eyes popping open, Aloy sat up from where she’d been slumped inside the seat mounted to the back of the Stormbird. She almost lost the blanket, snatching at it before the wind capture it and whisked it away.

Aloy held it back around herself, she’d been glad she had pulled it out of her pack. Turned out the higher you flew the colder the air got.

“How long have I been asleep?” Aloy asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It was dark, she was squinting down trying to see the land below through the clouds.

_‘Three hours or so. We are maybe an hour from Meridian.’_

“So hard to see,” Aloy said, instead bringing up the map on her Focus. They were indeed very close, according to this there was nothing below other than tropical forest, which was why it was so dark. No civilization to light fires or torches against the night.

_‘We are going to decrease altitude, don’t be alarmed.’_

For a second Aloy was about to ask why she would find that alarming, then the question died in her throat as the Stormbird began to dive. It wasn’t a particularly steep downward trajectory, but it was thrilling nonetheless.

They descended through the clouds, the air warming the lower they got. She disentangled herself from the blanket, tucking it behind her between her back and the cushions. She was leaning over the side, the curved metal of the seat back digging into her side as she looked over the edge.

Aloy’s long red hair flew behind her like a flag, snapping and swirling in the wind. Her transport leveled out now, at a height just over the top canopy of the trees. The lushness of the greenery was familiar, and was very much a feature of the Sundom.

“I can’t believe I managed to nap on this thing” Aloy said, sinking back into a comfortable sitting position in the chair. “Then again, I didn’t sleep that well last night.”

_‘The Spire should be coming into view momentarily.’_

It was already there, glowing blue, piercing the starry sky in the distance. It looked small but with each passing minute it grew larger until they got close enough that the city atop the mess behind it could be seen also.

“Meridian…” Aloy breathed.

She’d seen the city via the monitors in the control room plenty before she left, but seeing it now, so close, sent shivers down Aloy’s spine. They flew in silence, Aloy’s eyes glued to her destination.

_‘Query: where would you like to land?’_

Aloy actually hadn’t thought ahead enough to decide this.

“Well, I don’t think we should fly all the way into the city,” she answered. “Feel like that would cause a scene.”

_‘Perhaps to the East. We can land outside the Maizelands and you can proceed on foot.’_

The map flashed up again, showing the location GAIA meant. The Spire was looming now, Aloy looked up to it then down into the valley.

“That’s as good a spot as any,” Aloy agreed. “Can take one of the Eastern elevators up to the city from the Maizelands.”

The Stormbird adjusted its flight path, losing further height. Aloy’s stomach twisted, and this time she was fairly sure it had nothing to do with the dive.

  
—————-

Erend’s brain was pleasantly foggy before Gareth even joined him at the pub. The Captain greeted his friend perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

“How many have you had?” Gareth asked, sinking onto his stool and hailing the bartender to get a drink for himself.

“I dunno, a few,” Erend answered, with a shrug.

Truth was, he hadn’t bothered trying to count. The room wasn’t spinning yet, but he was definitely swaying a bit in his seat. To remedy this he turned on his stool to face Gareth, leaning his elbow on the bar.

“What am I going to do with you?” Gareth asked, shaking his head before downing some of his mead.

“Probably carry me home and leave me on the couch,” Erend answered. “Hopefully clothed.” He gave his friend a wink and then chugged the half a tankard that was clutched in his hand.

The pretty bar maid was working that night, she looked his way as he loudly requested another drink from the barkeep. Her hair was down tonight, it looked nice that way, dirty blond curls cascading around her shoulders. He tried not to look too hard at the cleavage showing in her low cut top before she turned to help a table of other Vanguard.

Gareth followed his gaze, then rolled his eyes.

“So it’s going to be that kind of night is it?”

Erend wasn’t sure he knew what that meant. The bartender had brought him a fresh drink, and he had it to his lips in an instant. The pretty barmaid walked by, and without even thinking about it he smacked her on the ass.

She gave a little jump. “Erend!” She chided him, but she was smiling, and laughing as she walked away.

Gareth let out a long sigh next to him, shaking his head. Erend ignored him, spinning back to face the bar, the room blurring slightly as he did so. He felt loose and free, and a bit like he could just float off.

“How’d evening brief go?” Gareth asked.

Erend deflated a bit at this, taking another deep glug of the drink. “Do we have to talk about work?” He asked this with a groan. “Or the tame machines? Or the Spire?”

He was trying NOT to think of all that. He was trying not to think at all, come to think of it.

“You’ve eliminated all the current topics at hand then,” Gareth said with a laugh. “Shall we talk about the weather instead?”

They were both laughing now. Erend lifted his tankard to his friend who clinked his to it, and they both drank.

—————-

The Stormbird touched down on the swath of land on the Eastern most side of the Maizelands, right by the flat footbridge that crossed the river where it curved. Aloy unbuckled the safety belt around her waist, but all she could do was crane her neck to look up at the city towering high above her on the Mesa.

She was here. She was ACTUALLY here. Reminding herself to breath, she slowly lifted herself from the seat. She tucked the blanket under her arm, and carefully climbed down.

Her feet met with the grass, the squish was a sound she hadn't heard in so long. She enjoyed the sounds of her own footfall as she ducked under the massive machine’s neck to retrieve her bag from the cargo hold.

_‘I’ll send your transport somewhere near so that if you ever need it it will be close.’_

Aloy stepped away, and a couple steps onto the bridge, watching as the wings of the Stormbird unfurled again and it took off, glowing blue against the night sky.

“I guess there's nothing to do now but try to find Erend,” Aloy said, swallowing as her mouth had gone dry at the thought. “And if I can't, find lodging.”

_‘Sounds like you have a plan.’_

Not exactly, Aloy thought. The truth was she wast sure where to find Erend. She could go to his apartment, assuming he hadn't moved for any reason in the last two years.

She crossed the bridge into the Maizelands. To her left was a sea of corn stalks, rustling in the wind, to her right the path forked off. She took this, following the gently curved path towards the base of the bridge that towered above.

There were two Carja guards standing sentinel at the elevator door, they pounded their weapons on the ground and stood at attention. Aloy had forgotten this behavior, she nodded to them, walking straight on to the waiting elevator.

She flung the long wooden switch. The golden gates unfolded, enclosing the vehicle and it it immediately began to rise.

_‘This is quite the feat of engineering. I'm impressed.’_

Aloy found herself smiling. “Only ones I've ever seen,” she said.

The air flowing through the grates was refreshing, Aloy breathed slowly, attempting to calm her sparking nerves. She reached the top sooner than she would have liked, adjusting the bag strap on her shoulder before stepping out onto the bridge.

Even in the evening, there were so many people coming and going from the city. For someone who had spent the past nine months without human interaction it was very nearly overwhelming.

It reminded her strongly of the first time she'd arrived in Meridian, asking Erend how anyone could think around so many people. He had told her he didn't think, he preferred to drink.

Aloy pushed this memory away, making the walk through the arches and across the city limits. Here the fountain that usually greeted her had changed. Instead of the beheaded remnant of a monument, now a statue of the Sun King stood in its place.

It had been so long since Aloy had seen Avad that she couldn't be sure it was a good likeness. The thing was certainly grand in scale, the golden metal reflecting the torchlight around the square.

“Is that who I think it is?”

She heard this somewhere behind her. She'd paused to take in the statue, not noticing the two Vanguard leaning up against a wall.

“Fire and spit, I think it is.”

They were whispering but not very well, one was gripping a flask. Aloy had turned her head just far enough to get a look at them in her peripheral.

Less than a minute and already someone had recognized her. Perhaps two years wasn't as long as she had thought.

“One of us should go ask her.”

Deciding on the spot, Aloy pivoted and took a few quick steps towards the two men. “Ask me what?”

The two men before her looked started, the tall bearded one dropped his flask. The second, shorter with a goatee, simply stared at her with his mouth open.

“You're her right?” The bearded Vanguard was straightening up from retrieving his dropped flask, he capped it and tucked it away in a pouch. “You defeated the demon at the Spire.”

“It wasn't a demon,” Aloy said, automatically as if this designation really mattered.

“Whatever the hell it was. Point is that was you. You're Aloy.”

Damn, they even remembered her name.

“Guilty as charged,” Aloy answered, with a shrug. “And you are?”

“Shit, where are my manners. Name’s Elof,” he said, then he nodded to his compatriot who had at the very least closed his mouth. “This is Brant.”

“Well, was that what you wanted to ask?” Somehow she knew it wasn't, and therefore wasn't even surprised by what was asked next.

“The Spire. The machines. That's all you right?” Elof asked.

Aloy hesitated, wondering if she should say. Part of her wanted to play dumb, say she'd come back because it was happening. But before she could formulate her cover story, GAIA spoke in her ear.

_‘You can tell them yes.’_

It wasn't as if she needed the permission, and yet the moment she had it. “Yeah, I guess that's not much of a surprise though is it?”

Aloy hoped this sounded casual, as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

“I KNEW IT,” Brant bellowed. The first he'd spoke since she'd come to face them. “I told you, didn't I tell you?”

“I shoulda realized, the way Cap shrugged us off when we asked,” Elof replied.

They were talking as if she wasn't there all of a sudden, but when she realized they meant Erend she took another step towards them. This brought both of them back to looking at her.

“Cap as in the Captain?” she asked.

“Yeah, we asked him, figuring if anyone knew it'd be him,” Elof said, shaking his head. “But he didn't really answer us.”

“What happened between the two of you anyway?” Brant blurted out this question and then looked terrified as both Aloy and Elof gave him withering looks.

“Dude,” Elof chided him, shaking his head.

Aloy had to remind herself to breath, she turned her eyes to Elof. “Speaking of Erend, any idea where I might find him?”

She tried to ignore the looks on their faces of barely hidden glee, knowing full well this story would spread through Erend’s men like wildfire. They told her to try a bar on the other side of town, his regular watering hole as they called it.

“So, are you like back back?” Elof asked as she went to leave them.

Aloy spared them one last look. “Yeah. I'm back.”

GAIA already had a map up, she'd clearly been scanning the city already. Aloy went to Erend’s apartment first anyway, slightly hoping she could find him there, alone and away from people.

No such luck however, as her knocks went unanswered. She stood for a while with her back on his front door. The last time she'd stood on this door step they were on their way out to say that goodbye on the Eastern bridge GAIA had shown her.

Aloy was half tempted to leave her pack hidden on his stoop, but thought better of it. She carried it with her as she traced what she imagined would be the most logical route between his home and the pub the Vanguard had told her about.

The streets this end of town were actually fairly quiet, she passed a few people here and there, but the marketplace seemed empty as she went to cross through it.

That's when she heard his voice. She would know that voice anywhere. Erend was coming in through the other end of the market, talking loudly. Judging by his tone he had likely been drinking.

“I'm a lucky man to have such lovely company home.”

Aloy's heart seemed to stop beating. She sought cover in one of the stalls that was closed up, ducking behind a rack.

“You're an asshole.”

The replying voice was male, and Aloy released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. They were past her by the time she stepped back out of her hiding spot.

Erend was half leaning on someone, who also wearing the yellow stripes of the vanguard. She took a few following steps before the urge to call after him over came her.

“Erend!”

The pair of men stopped nearly to the archway out of the market, in the direction of the apartment she had just left. His friend turned his head first, brown eyes flitting to her face.

“Holy shit,” he muttered.

_‘Seems you've been recognized again. You're heart rate is elevated. Stay calm. You can do this.’_

Aloy couldn't answer her, so she stayed silent as Erend drunkenly disentangled himself from his fellow Vanguard, turning to look at her. He looked uneven on his feet, his eyes growing wide. He stared, shaking his mohawked head, the earring in his ear swinging as he did so.

“Now I know I'm drunk,” he said, his words were slightly slurred but not so bad she couldn't understand them.

Erend turned to leave after this. The other Vanguard had stepped back, seeming to know he should. He looked like he was about to reach out to stop the drunk man.

“Erend, it's me. I'm actually here.”

Silence. Silence. Silence. Erend was swaying with his back to her, half frozen in a step forward towards home. Aloy stayed quiet. He made the turn so slowly, his eyes looking her over, his lips pressed together in something much closer to a frown than anything else.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, stepping forward, gesturing with his arms wide. “If you are actually here that is.”

“Cap, she's here,” the other Vanguard said. “Try not to-“

“How are you gonna ambush me on my way home from the bar?” Erend growled.

Aloy wasn't sure what to do. What to say. He was far more drunk than she'd ever seen him, and that was saying something. He wobbled on shaky knees, brandishing a finger at her.

“I wasn't trying to ambush you,” Aloy said. “I just got here and you weren't home so I was…”

“What? Looking for me?” Erend asked with a laugh. “You're at least a year too late on that.”

The words ‘too late’ pierce Aloy like an arrow. How many times had she feared she was too late? Now here he was, so close she could touch him, and yet she was taking cautious steps back.

Erend looked nearly just as she remembered. The same carefully shaven facial hair and mohawk. The same intricate Oseram armor. Without realizing it she had been standing there staring at him, and he didn't seem to appreciate it.

“Don't look so surprised,” Erend said. “What did you expect to find here? Two years!” He holds up two fingers, and then stumbles backwards. The other Vanguard rights him before retreating again.

“I know, it took far longer than I expected-“ Aloy began, still determined to try.

“And then you came through and you couldn’t even wait long enough to see me,” Erend slurred. He's pacing in uneven curvy paths back and forth now. “Do you have any idea what it did to me when I heard? For weeks all I could think was if I'd left earlier. If I'd moved faster.”

“About that, I really wanted to wait but-“

“BUT there's always a but,” he retorts.

Erend wasn't letting her get a word in edgewise, and with each word he spoke Aloy felt any hope she had inside her wither.

“So what is it this time? Three days? A week?” Erend asked. “How long will you grace us with your presence this visit?”

She was too late. The bitterness rolling off the man before her was palpable. He wasn't happy to see her, quite the opposite.

“Erend…”

Aloy didn't know what to say, she took a cautious step forward hand extended towards him. Before she could make contact with his arm he jerked it away, nearly falling over in the process.

“Just save it,” Erend said. “You're wasting your time anyway. The guy you knew is dead. You killed him.”

Erend stormed from the market after that, surprisingly quickly for how drunk he seemed. The other Vanguard made to follow him and Aloy did the only thing she could think to do: she fled the opposite direction.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides behind desk*
> 
> If it makes anyone feel better I'm on a nice writing roll, 3100 words and it's only 8 pm. Three day weekend so I can keep going tonight. 
> 
> Expect a chapterful three day weekend. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	10. Been in the Dark for Weeks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: chapter may cause increased affection for Gareth Vanguardsman. I am not sorry.

Aloy’s heart felt like it might beat right out of her chest. Erend’s words bounced around her head. ‘You're about a year too late.’

_‘Are you okay?’_

“Of course not,” Aloy blurted out, at an inopportune moment as she had turned out the market archway and passed a pair of Carja guards on duty. She breezed past them before whispering. “Can you just… I need a minute. Please.”

GAIA did as asked and went quiet, Aloy walked without goal. All she could think about was the way he'd looked at her. She'd known all along that leaving had to have hurt him, but it wasn't until now that she realized just how much. ‘The guy you knew is dead. You killed him.’

She turned down a side street that looked quiet, not really caring where she went in particular. She longed for the chair in the control room and monitors full of scrolling data.

_‘I know you wish not to be disturbed, but I thought you'd like to know you're being followed.’_

Every muscle in Aloy's body seemed to tense, she sidestepped into the cut in of someone's back door, letting her bag drop to her feet. She tapped her Focus, the orange outline of a man entering the alleyway where she had.

He slowed down, seeming to think he'd lost her. He came level with her hiding spot and Aloy launched herself out at him. Her hands found his collar shoving him against the opposite wall made of cobbled stone.

“Woah, easy,” the man muttered, holding his hands out in a motion of surrender. “I mean you no harm.”

_‘It's the same man who was with Erend in the market.’_

Aloy released him, stepping back

“Why are you following me?” She straightened up to her full height, tossing a long plat of red hair over the chunky armored shoulder pad.

It was indeed the man who had been carrying Erend home. He was not wearing the Vanguard armor itself but wearing the striped shirt and billowy pants that went underneath.

“I'm a friend of Erend’s,” he said, lowering his hands finally. “Name’s Gareth.”

“Alright that tells me who you are,” Aloy said, stepping back to lean on the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. “That doesn't tell me why you're following me.”

“I just,” he began, but faltered. “Look… don't give up on him.”

Aloy didn't know what she had been expecting, but it wasn't this. She looked back down the alley in the direction of Erend’s apartment. “It seems to me it's Erend who’s given up on me,” Aloy said. “And you know what, I can't even blame him.”

Then she sank down on the stoop next to her pack, letting out a long sigh.

Gareth seemed to be considering what to say next. He ran a hand along his clean shaven chin, and looked down at her. “You know, we've actually met once before.”

“We have?”

He nodded, now taking her place leaning on the wall opposite her. “A few months back, you were looking for Erend down at the training grounds,” he said.

Suddenly she remembers. He'd been the first to tell her Erend was away. Aloy had been visibly upset and evacuated the conversation soon thereafter. She looked up at him now from where she sat.

“Were you the one who had to tell him he missed me by a day and a half?” she asked.

“Fortunately no, though I've heard about it plenty,” Gareth answered. “He's a mess, I'm sure you can see that. But he doesn't have to be.”

Aloy took a long breath, and picked herself back up onto her feet. “I must say it's worse than the worst case scenario I had in my head,” she said.

“Where are you staying?” Gareth asked.

“I… don't know. I guess I thought…” Aloy trailed off. She herself hadn't realized the assumption she had made until she said this. She'd expected to stay with Erend.

Gareth looked puzzled for the briefest of moments before his mouth formed a small oh of understanding. “Oh Cap is a prize idiot,” he said, shaking his head. “A top of the line, grade A idiot.”

Aloy didn't know what to say. She picked up her pack and slung it back on her shoulder.

“Stay with me,” Gareth said suddenly. “I've got a large comfy couch.”

“You want me to go home with you?” She fidgeted with the strap, visibly thrown off once again.

“Let me ease your concerns by saying that as lovely as you are you're lacking certain equipment I look for in a lover,” Gareth said.

Aloy blinked. “How do you mean?”

He laughed. “I mean I don't swing your way.” When she continued to look confused he pressed on. “Of the two of you I’d prefer Erend as the bed partner.”

“Ohhh,” Aloy said, suddenly realizing he was trying to tell her that he was gay.

“So you see, it'd be like bunking with a gal pal,” Gareth said, gesturing for her to follow him. “Unless you have a gal pal you'd like to catch up with.”

Aloy suddenly thought of Talanah. The Hunter’s Lodge could provide room and board she was sure, but after the icy reception from Erend she wondered how many of her former friends and allies would also feel spurned by her departure and absence.

“Not really,” Aloy answered, stepping forward and allowing him to hook her arm and lead her from the alleyway.  
—————-

Erend was in a full on drunken rage. He'd made it home, but couldn't for the life of him settle down. He paced the bottom floor of his home, from the front door into the kitchen and back again.

Anger he couldn't even begin to understand coursed through him. He hadn't expected seeing her face to hurt like it had. It hurt. Like a million steel daggers hot from the forge.

The thought of the pity in her eyes as she reached for him incensed him. He let out a guttural growl and overturned the kitchen table. There had been a couple plates and glasses on it, they crashed to the floor, breaking into as many pieces as he felt he was falling into.

It felt good, so he didn't stop. He went to the cabinets and flung them open, seizing mugs and bowls, smashing them with gusto on the floor, throwing them against the walls.

He didn't think. He didn't feel he just raged and destroyed.

Erend wasn't sure how long he'd been at it, when he sank panting to the couch, the crunch of broken glass could be heard under his boots.

He planted his elbows onto the top of his knees, allowed his head to fall forward into his hands, and he cried.

—————-

Gareth’s place wasn't all that different than she remembered Erend’s to be. It was two floors, the bottom of which was both living room and kitchen dining area.

“Home sweet home,” Gareth declared cheerily as he saw her through the door, closing it behind her.

Aloy took a couple tentative steps in, looking around the decidedly Carja space with a lot of draping silk hangings and intricate metal lamps and accents.

“I can tell you from personal experience the sofa is quite comfy,” he said. “There should be plenty of pillows, I can get you a blanket.”

“I have one, thanks,” Aloy said, looking at the plethora of decorative silk pillows on the large lushly upholstered couch.

“I don't suppose you'd like to talk about it?”

Gareth had walked to the foot of the steps, clearly heading towards bed but this seemed to have occurred to him to ask.

“Not tonight,” Aloy said. “I appreciate the offer.”

He left her then, the creaking of the steps fading above her as she dropped her bag to the floor and sank down onto the couch.

There was no way she was sleeping in this armor. That was her first thought as the relief of finally being alone seeped into her.

_‘He seems nice.’_

Aloy jumped, as GAIA’s voice cuts across the silence.

_‘Apologies, am I meant to be leaving you alone still?’_

“No, it's okay,” Aloy said, rising from the couch again to begin shedding her armor. “And yes, Gareth does seem nice.”

Aloy piled her armor at the end of the couch between the carved wooden feet of the sofa and the corner. Then she fished her ancient loose fitting clothing from the facility out of her pack and slid them on.

_‘Are you okay? I'm sorry about Erend.’_

Pulling out the blanket last, Aloy flopped down onto the sofa. Her hair fell across multiple pillows, as she unfurled the blanket over herself.

She was surprised to find she was okay. Somehow. In the moment she hadn't been, not by a long shot. Yet it was settling on her, and the hurt was subsiding.

Besides, had he lied? Were his qualms unjustified? She'd done what he'd said. She'd earned every one of his words.

Perhaps if she'd been smart enough not to have that conversation while he was drunk he could have delivered those truths a bit more delicately.

That is if sober Erend wanted to deliver such things delicately.

Aloy rearranged the pillows, curling herself up in them.

_‘Aloy?’_

“Sorry GAIA,” Aloy whispered. “Just lost in my own head I guess. And yes, I'm actually okay. Not sure what to do next just yet. But, I'm okay.”

The cushioning was soft, softer than her bed back in the facility, Aloy could feel herself relaxing, eyes fluttering closed.

_‘Sleep on it. I'm proud of you.’_

Aloy hummed, nuzzling her face into a pillow, affection rising for the AI. “Thanks,” she said, her voice slightly muffled in the silk covering of the pillow.

Then she drifted to sleep.

—————-

Aloy awoke to light coming through the front window, forgetting in a sleepy moment where exactly she was. She shielded her eyes from the sun, yawning. Then she remembered the friendly Vanguard whose apartment she was in.

She pulled the covers over her head. This blocked out some of the sunlight but not all. Not enough for her to fall back asleep.

It didn't help that her mind had immediately ground into motion replaying the events of the night before. She was almost grateful to hear the sound of boots coming slowly down the stairs.

Gareth was attempting to be quiet, hunched slightly as he delicately took each step down. Aloy pulled the covers from her and sat up making him practically jump down the last couple steps.

“Sorry,” she said, swinging her legs from under the covers to sit up fully on the sofa.

“That's alright,” he said with a laugh. “Sorry I woke you.”

“You didn't, actually,” Aloy stood, stretching. “How early is it?”

“Early, I have to go rouse Erend for work,” Gareth said this as he went to a rack in the room and fastened on his hammer like weapon to his back. He looked significantly more substantial in the armor than he had looked without it the night before. “A task that is probably not going to be easy considering.”

This thought didn't seem complete, but Aloy knew what he meant.

He went into the kitchen, fishing through a drawer for a minute before returning. He came up to the couch and held his hand out, pressing something small into her palm.

As he stepped back, Aloy looked down to see it was a key. “It's too the front door,” he said. “Lock up when you're leaving. You can stay as long as you like.”

Aloy felt relief blossoming in her chest, she looked back up at him. “You're giving me a key to your home?” she asked incredulously. “You don't even know me.”

“You're Aloy,” he said briskly, going to the door. “You've saved the world I think more than once now. I’m fairly sure I can trust you not to rob me.”

Aloy laughed despite herself, coiling her fingers around the tiny bit of metal in her hand. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” Gareth said, opening the front door finally. “But you should know I'm not just doing it for you. I'm doing it for him too.”

He left after saying this, closing the door behind him. Aloy wasn’t quite sure what to make of this last statement, she blinked in the early morning light filtering through the window. She reached for her Focus, that had apparently come off in her sleep, it was peeking out from one of the pillows. Picking it up with delicate fingers, she pressed it back in place on the side of her face.

_‘Good morning, Aloy.’_

“Good morning, GAIA,” she said, rising from the couch, allowing the blanket to fall off of her. She heaved her duffel bag up into the seat she had vacated, and began digging through it.

_‘Query: how did you sleep?’_

Aloy’s fingers felt silk, and she knew she’d found what she was looking for, fishing from the depths a Carja silks outfit she had gotten from a merchant two years before.

“Not too bad,” Aloy said, as she began to dress. “Gareth wasn’t wrong about the sofa, it’s comfy.”

She was wiggling into the silk skirt, sliding it up over her hips, her hair swinging behind her as she did so. It wasn’t as confining as the Shield-Weaver get up, thanks to the woven nature of the bodice.

_‘Query: what is it you plan on doing today?’_

“I’m going up to the Spire,” Aloy answered readily.

She couldn’t explain her certainty, but somehow she needed to go up to the Alight. The place held such significance for her, and, in fact, for her and Erend. It had been up there on the eve of battle that he had finally pulled her aside, at the mouth of the path down the mesa before she departed, and kissed her.

He’d begged her to stay alive, and she’d entreated him to do the same. Later, on that very same swatch of land they would fight side by side, and they would win.

So on this, Aloy's first morning back in Meridian after two years away, Aloy would make the hike up to where it all began, in hopes of getting her head on straight.

—————-

Erend didn’t hear the knocks. He didn’t hear anything at all until Gareth’s face was swimming above him calling his name.

The act of opening his eyes had been taxing, it made his head swim, and his stomach lurch. He closed them back, trying to roll over into the cushions of his sofa.

“Damn, Erend,” Gareth said, pulling on the captain’s shoulder, forcing him onto his back again. “You’ve outdone yourself this time, that’s for sure.”

Swallowing back the sting of bile in his throat, Erend rubbed his eyes and attempted to understand this statement. What had happened the night before? He remembered the conversation with Avad, the gut wrenching rehash that had wrecked him. He remembered the pub. He remembered the walk home. He remembered…

His eyes opened, staring up at his friend. “Tell me it was dream,” Erend groaned.

Gareth looked around the room, arms crossed over his armor clad chest. “Sure, sure, Cap,” he said, sarcastically. “Totally a dream. You one hundred percent didn’t drunkenly belittle and push away the woman of yours dreams. You definitely didn’t come home and smash up you're house in a drunken rage.”

The Vanguard took a few crunching steps across the rubble of glass on the floor from broken dishes, twisting to make it as loud as possible. “Oh disregard that sound, you’re still dreaming.”

Erend closed his eyes again. “Fuck,” he cursed. No one spoke for a moment, though the crunching glass footsteps started up again, Gareth going to the kitchen to get him some water. “She’s actually here?”

It took a great deal of effort to force himself to sit up, his head throbbed in protest, but by the time his friend returned with the cup, Erend had his hand out waiting for it.

“In the flesh,” Gareth answered, watching him as he chugged back the water. “It didn’t go very well, how much do you remember?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Erend closed his eyes and attempted to piece it together. Anger was the predominant thing he remembered, raging, irrational anger. He’d yelled at her, he’d sent her away.

“Enough,” he said finally, handing the empty cup back. He sat quietly for a moment, his mind abuzz. “It’s probably for the best.”

Gareth stopped, in the act of pouring him another cup of water. He pivoted slowly, holding the jug and the cup still.

“How exactly do you figure that?” he asked. “You’ve spent two years pining for this woman. Mourning the loss of this woman. And she’s here, and it’s probably for the best that you sent her away from you?”

“Gareth, she’s just going to leave again,” Erend breathed. He’d said this last night, in his fit of drunken aggressive honesty. “Whether I send her or not.”

Shaking his head, Gareth resumed pouring the water. He set down the jug a bit heavier than necessary, before stomping back through the bits of glass to Erend.

“You know what, Cap,” he said, half shoving the cup into Erend’s hand, sloshing some over the top. “If you wanna burn the candle at both ends, and push away even the smallest chances for good things in your life, I can’t help but wonder why I’m bothering.”

Erend stared, no words came to mind. He drank the water, swallowing it down his aching throat. He downed it all, then examined the empty vessel. “I can’t help but wonder why anyone bothers with me,” he said.

“Because we know you can be more than you choose to be,” Gareth said. “Now get dressed, we’re already late. You’ll have to deal with cleaning up this mess later.”

For the first time, Erend took properly in the mess that was the kitchen. The cabinets were all still open, and mostly empty as his dishware was shattered across the floor. He let out a long sigh, handed the empty cup off, and heaved himself to his feet.

There was more than one mess to clean up now, Erend realized as he ascended the stairs, and he wasn’t sure if he should bother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twelve hours between chapters?! MUST BE NANOWRIMO!
> 
> Omg I just read the comments on the last chapter. Cmon guys I wasn't REALLY gonna have her meet up with him as he was bringing home the pretty barmaid. 
> 
> I mean I considered it. For like half a second. 
> 
> But you know I felt it was gonna go bad enough without throwing her in there. ;-)
> 
> Thanks for continuing to read! Plan is to have a second chapter tonight but we shall see how the writing goes. Still chipping away at Frozen Wilds and would like to try to update my other fic at some point. 
> 
> Okay I just made myself tired thinking about doing all that.


	11. And I've Realized

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Editing may be a little rough. My brain is tired.

It was an overcast day, the sky a sea of grey clouds that rolled slowly over the valley. Aloy had made the walk down along the Southern edge of the city, taking one of the main elevators down into the village below.

Two years had done wonders for the bustling town, she tried to remember how it had looked after the battle, burned down and broken. From the ashes new buildings had risen, new docks had been built. Had she not known there would have been no way to tell that near destruction had once befell it.

Aloy wended around the settlement and into the Maizelands to the East, following the route to the base of the Alight. The walk up was in significantly better condition than it had been the last time she’d been there. Getting down after the Eclipse and their machines had destroyed everything had not been an easy task.

Fortunately the stairs along the way had all been rebuilt.

Somehow, she wasn’t alone on the walk, or even up on the Alight itself once she arrived. It seemed the new lights had drawn people to see it up close.

The Alight had not been rebuilt, as it had been just remnants of buildings to begin with, but the rubble had been removed. As had husk of Hades from the base.

People were kneeling where it had been, murmuring things to the Spire.

_‘They’re worshiping it.'_

This wasn’t a question, Aloy wanted to answer it though. The proximity of people around her prevented this. She took one last neck craning look up to the tip of the spire, before putting her back to it.

She went outside the ring of balustrades, and up a rise away from all of the people.

“Worshiping it seems to be a common reaction when large relics of the old world show themselves in manners they can’t understand,” Aloy said, swinging her legs over a low stone wall so that she could sit on it.

The large sun seal mosaic that marked the center of the Alight had survived the battle pretty much in tact, Aloy looked down at it, making note different cracks in its veneer in her mind. Remembering how they had gotten there.

Even with all the people here to see the lit up Spire, it was still quieter than it was that day. Aloy looked up at the tower, it’s panels glowing blue, radiating stronger and lighter with the surges of power pulsing through it.

She’d come up here to think, and yet her mind had gone blank.

_‘They don’t realize the Spire is a tool being used by another. I see.’_

“It was the same with the Nora,” Aloy said, thoughtfully. “Worshiping a cradle facility in the mountain.”

Aloy sat for a long while, letting the day wear on, watching the people below as they came and went. Some stayed for a long time. Others came just to see and were gone in a matter of minutes. Several stayed kneeling at the base.

“What am I going to do GAIA?” Aloy asked this with absolutely no preamble, she had her hair in her hands in front of her right shoulder, fingers combing through it.

_‘What do you want to do?’_

The fact that Aloy didn’t have an immediate answer to this at all surprised her. That was something people normally knew, at least to some extent.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I… guess I’d like to figure out if there’s any way to get Erend to at least talk to me.”

_‘Perhaps if we analyze the things he said last night-“_

Aloy let out a grown, turning herself so she could lie along the stone wall, crooking an arm under her head, face to the overcast sky. “I don't like that word analyze.”

GAIA disregarded her, playback already starting. Aloy closed her eyes to it, though she could still hear his words coming through the speaker in her ear.

“So what is it this time?” Erend’s voice asked, the drunk lilt evident. “Three days? A week? How long will you grace us with your presence this visit?”

“GAIA,” Aloy growled, her eyes closed so tight she was seeing lights behind her lids from the pressure.

The playback stopped. Aloy was breathing hard as if she'd just climbed a steep trail, though she was still laying down on the wall, one hand behind her head, the other resting on her silk clad chest as it rose and fell.

_‘He's scared, Aloy.’_

“Well, he can join the club,” Aloy murmured. She opened her eyes finally, the dreary sky above seemed to match her mood. She almost wished it would start raining.

_‘What is it you are scared of?’_

How did GAIA always know what questions Aloy didn't really know the answer to? What WAS she scared of? She'd toppled regimes. She'd defeated rogue world ending programs.

“I guess, I'm most scared that he's right,” Aloy answered. “That that Erend I knew is really gone, and that in the end the only one to blame for that is me.”

She sat up then, swinging her legs back down and looking up to the Spire again.

“Because that Erend,” Aloy went on, her voice more breathless than perhaps it should have been. “He was amazing. He was funny, and brave. Loyal, and honest. He never hesitated to help me, and he was there right at the end. I can't even say for sure I could have defeated Hades without him.”

This reminded Aloy of something, she hopped down from the wall and descended the hill. She walked diagonally across the sun circle to the Northwest. She had to duck under branches that weren't there before, but she found the place nonetheless.

Out around the jagged rocks, and Meridian was in view across the valley. Slowly, she walked out onto the lush green outcropping.

“GAIA I don't suppose, in your very personally invasive viewings of my Focus files, you found the one from right here immediately after Hades was purged?” Aloy was standing nearly where she had then.

_‘I did. Initiating playback.’_

It was strange watching the walk she had just took, only from what felt like a lifetime ago.

She’s staggering more than Aloy remembered, smoke could be seen through the trees from the valley below. Clearing the tree line, the view is a mess of fire and smoke and Meridian is standing but the elevators are not.

Then it spins. Erend is stepping through the plant life behind her, one hand gripping his weapon. He had startled her, but Aloy remembers how infectious the relief rolling off of him had been.

He moved his war maul from one hand to the other, and reaches for her. His hand comes down out of frame, but she remembers the pressure on her shoulder. Neither of them speak, they just stand in understanding for a moment, his hand on her shoulder.

That is until Varl turns up, sending the view panning again, before returning to Meridian.

“That's enough.”

The playback ended. Aloy's eyes refocused on the present day skyline across from her. It was significantly more pleasant than the one that was on fire.

_‘If you are still interested in my input, I can summarize my analysis instead of showing my work.’_

Aloy laughed, stepping up to nearer the edge of the outcropping, looking down to the Maizelands bellow.

“You're ridiculous, you know that?” Aloy asked. “Well, by all means. Get on with it. Because the best I can come up with is go find him when he's sober and try again. Not the most inventive plan I must admit. ”

_‘It lacks a certain something yes. Perhaps instead your next course of action shouldn't actually be directly about him. Yet be something that could help things along between the two of you.’_

Aloy straightened up. “Am I supposed to be following this?” she asked.

_‘His worst fear is getting attached and you leaving him again. Do you agree?’_

Turning from the edge, Aloy walked back to the diagonal jut of rock that lined the back edge. She leaned on it, lounging against the angle. “I guess…”

_‘So you need to show him that's not going to happen. You can say it a million times, but what matters is what you do.’_

Aloy frowned, blinking as for a moment she thought she had felt a small droplet of water fall upon her face.

“Okay, so, how exactly do you propose I do that?” she asked. “Aside from not leaving. Which is the obvious answer.”

_‘Don't just look for a place to stay until Erend comes around. Look for a place to live whether he does or not.’_

This made an odd sort of sense. Aloy remembered back to her tiny bedroom at the facility, weighing out the options, reminding herself there were many reasons to settle in Meridian.

“So, find a place to live?”

Aloy took a deep breath, thinking this over. A place to live would mean a place for herself. The truth was that one of the reasons she ended up attached to the facilities she lived in was because they were the first places she ever had that could on any level be considered hers and only hers.

_‘Not just live, but work.’_

“You've lost me again,” she said, sitting up as her Focus interface flickered into life before her.

_‘We passed the perfect place earlier, it appears to have been a smith’s shop at some point but now it's vacant.’_

Aloy watched as the schematics of the building came into view, it had a large first floor with high ceilings, along the back wall stairs led up to a smaller cluster of rooms on the top floor.

_‘There's an apartment upstairs. You can use the ground floor as a your own control facility. We can get a console bank in there, a simulator, synthesizer.’_

As GAIA spoke the schematics changed, and these things began to appear. It seemed the AI had already designed the very workshop she was describing.

“How would you get all those things here?” Aloy asked, standing up now, as she had felt several more droplets hit her skin, and was sure it was about to actually rain.

_‘Your curiosity on this aspect of the planning never ceases to amaze me. Does this mean you’ll go look into it?’_

Aloy was already leaving the outcropping, raindrops peppering the fronds as she ducked underneath. “It does.”

—————-

The weather was greatly reflective of Erend’s mood. It had begun to drizzle not long into rounds, and was full on raining before lunch rolled around. The arms of his striped shirt were soaked, the leather of his armor also, appearing darker than usual having absorbed so much moisture.

A little rain didn’t stop the day do day of a Vanguard, however. Gareth had the decency not to bring Aloy up, instead letting Erend stew silently at his side as they trudged through puddles from one stop to the next.

For lunch, they went to a restaurant in the bottom floor of an inn at the Northeast end of the city. They had the best stew around, and it was warm and welcome after all the rain.

They’d gotten a booth, which afforded them some privacy, with its high wooden backed benches.

Gareth waited until the food arrived, and they’d begun spooning the savory broth into their mouths.

“So,” he asks, eying Erend overtop of his spoon. “What do you plan on doing with this whole Aloy is back in town thing?”

“You’re looking at it,” Erend answered, scooping a potato onto his spoon and shoveling it into his mouth.

“Sound plan,” Gareth said. “I’m sure there will be stew handy when next you run into her.”

Erend sputtered on the sip of water he had gone to take. “That’s not what I meant,” he growled, wiping his chin with a napkin. “I meant I’m not going to to do anything. Nothing. Nada. There’s nothing to be done.”

They ate in silence for a couple minutes, Gareth throwing him looks that said quite clearly this response wasn’t going to fly.

“Exactly how long do you intend to ignore it, and hope it goes away?” Gareth asked.

Erend let out a barking laugh, and let his spoon fall into his now empty bowl with a clatter. “I don’t imagine I’ll have to do it long,” he said. “Because I maintain in the end, she will go and all of this will be a pointless debate of the inconsequential.”

Silence fell again. This time Gareth didn’t break it. He let it stretch on, until Erend himself broke it with another thought that had been stuck in his mind all morning.

“I have to admit though, the look of pity she gave me was an eye opener,” Erend said. “Might be time to clean up my act. Can’t have her thinking I can’t take care of myself without her.”

Gareth cleared his throat. “I think you mean you can’t take care of yourself without ME.”

They laughed then, rising from the table, clearing their plates and glasses.

Afternoon rounds went quickly, but by the time Erend arrived at the Palace for the afternoon meeting he was feeling the familiar urge. The thirst. And not for the tea that he was drinking.

He considered telling Avad about Aloy. Just the day before the King had asked him to do so should she turn up, but something stopped him. Instead he pushed silently through the end of it, and departed the Sun Palace happy his duties were at an end for the day.

Erend was half way to the bar before he caught himself. Halfway towards the thing the back of his mind was already crying out for. He thought of the state of his home, and forced himself to divert from his course.

His fists were clenched at his sides by the time he reached his front door. He still wanted to reconsider. Still wanted to turn back, but he forced himself inside, closed the door and swore to himself he wouldn’t leave again.

Then he retrieved a broom from the kitchen closet, feet crunching as he walked, and began to clean up.

—————-

Gareth wasn't home when Aloy arrived, damp from the rain. She took advantage of his washroom, cleaning herself up and sliding back into her blissfully dry clothing from the facility.

She’d hung the silks along the towel bar to dry, then returned downstairs to curl up under the blanket on the couch. She’d gotten some bread on the way through the market, and ate it for dinner.

Aloy was only just starting to feel properly dry and warm again when Gareth turned up.

“Hello there,” he greeted, unshouldering his weapon.

“Hey,” Aloy said, instead of the barrage of questions she wanted to ask about Erend’s well being after the night before.

“What a wretched, wet, dreary day,” he moaned, going to the stairs. When Aloy looked like she was about to rise, he waved her off. “Relax, let me get some dry clothes on. I can see you want to talk.”

She had no idea how he could possibly have seen that, but she let him go upstairs anyway, tucking her knees to her chest beneath the blanket, wrapping her arms around them.

Gareth returned in a long button up shirt and silky looking pants. This, she surmised, must be what he usually slept in. He wasted no time in sinking down on the sofa next to her.

He didn't say anything, waiting for her to speak instead.

“How was he today?” Aloy asked, needing desperately to know.

“Hard to tell,” Gareth answered, shaking his head. “Hungover. Not sure exactly how clearly he remembers your conversation last night, but he does remember it.”

“I thought about coming to find him today,” Aloy said. “You know, try again when he’s sober. But then… I thought maybe it was better to give him some space.”

Gareth was nodding. Then he seemed to think long and hard about what he wanted to say next. Aloy waited, watching his face, he twisted his lips as he thought, tapped his fingers on his silk covered knees.

“You should know, that he won’t come find you,” he said finally. “Erend seems convinced you’re bound to leave again, and I guess plans to just look the other way until you do.”

Aloy knew this to an extent, but somehow hearing it, knowing it had basically come directly from the man himself, stung all the worse.

“Ironic, seeing as how I bought a place today,” she said, then she let out a small laugh, finding this mildly amusing. “I mean, it won’t get finalized till tomorrow, so you’re stuck with me for one more night.”

“You… bought a place… here in Meridian?”

Gareth said this slowly, as if surely he had misheard or misunderstood what she had said.

“Yeah, on the Southeast end, I think it was once a blacksmith’s shop,” Aloy said, finally ceasing hugging her knees to herself, allowing her feet to fall back to the floor.

“Wait, I know where you mean, I miss that blacksmith,” Gareth said, shaking a finger in the direction she had indicated. “So… you’re like… _staying_ staying?”

“I am yes,” Aloy said, and she found she felt very sure of this decision. His surprise only cemented in her mind the need to act fast in this manner. No one would have believed she was going to make Meridian her home if she didn’t set down some roots for real.

“In that case, I doubt he’ll manage to keep looking away forever,” Gareth said, bumping his shoulder into hers.

He left her not long after that and she sank down into the pillows. Aloy felt fairly certain in her actions, and was in fact excited at the prospect of making the shell of a place she’d visited earlier into a something more.

And if doing so helped her show Erend she wasn’t going to run off at the drop of the hat, then all the better.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day eleven and I'm at chapter eleven. 9000 words in the last 48 hours. 
> 
> NaNoWriMo is just a special time of year. 
> 
> Don't mind me laying some ground work for the second act. It's something I've contemplated a while and we shall see if it actually plays on paper like it plays in my head. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	12. You're All I Need

Somehow, Erend felt worse waking up the morning after having drank nothing than he had felt during any hangover ever. He couldn’t explain it, but his body was aching with need. A need he hadn’t fed.

So his body had responded by making him feel as if he was uncomfortable in his own skin. He’d found it hard to sleep in this state, so when he dragged himself from the bed at the first sign of light through the windows, he felt nearly as tired as when he had lied down.

He carried himself through the motions, washed up, shaved, donned his armor, and was already coming down the stairs when his regularly scheduled wake up call began knocking on the front door.

Gareth’s face was pretty priceless as Erend pulled open the door immediately, taking in the fact he was fully dressed, and awake.

“Morning, Cap,” Gareth said, looking past him into the apartment. His eyes slid over the floor, the last time he’d been there it had been covered with debris from Erend’s drunken tantrum. Now, however, every bit of that had been swept away. The table had been righted, the cabinets closed.

Erend would need to buy new dishes, but the mess was gone.

“When I didn't see you at the bar I wondered what you were up to,” Gareth said, stepping back so Erend could come out. He closed and locked the door before answering.

“You don’t want to know how long it took,” Erend said, then he led the way off down the street, in the direction of the Palace for morning meeting.

Gareth fell in to step next to him. Erend saw his friend sneaking looks at him from the corner of his eye, but didn’t acknowledge it. His head ached in a different way than it did after a night of heavy drinking.

“You doing okay?” Gareth finally asked, as they made the last turn, nearly to the bridge lined with feather topped Carja guards.

“Yeah, slept like shit, but aside from that,” Erend said this with a shrug, then gestured towards the bridge indicating they should get the day underway.

—————-

“And here is your copy.”

The clerk, a mousy looking Carja man, who’s fingers were all smudged with ink, handed Aloy a scrolled up piece of parchment: the deed to her new property.

“Thank you.”

GAIA waited only a half a second after the door closed, leaving Aloy alone in the roomy shop space that now belonged to her.

_‘Step one complete.’_

Aloy felt a burst of excited energy in her chest, she half skipped across the room, turning around in the open space. “Feels weird,” she said as she did this, arms held wide.

‘You should go and open the Southern facing window.’

Intrigued, Aloy retraced her way to the other side of the room where a large glass plated window faced out off the mesa to the South. There were two thick slats of wood that ran down the center, cutting this window into quadrants that could be swung open individually.

Aloy opened the bottom two wide, looking out. At first she wasn’t sure what she was seeing, four blue glowing lights in the distance, equidistant apart. She squinted, leaning out the window a bit.

_‘You may want to step back.’_

She did so just in time, as a metal storage case came flying in the window, supported on four small glowing, floating devices. It came to rest gently along one wall, the devices still attached going quiet and dark.

Aloy was about to go to the case when two more the same size zoomed in behind it.

_‘That’s all of them for now.’_

“What is all this?” Aloy asked, she knelt and opened the first one to find what appeared to be a small power saw. “Tools?”

_‘You will need to modify the window, so I’ve sent you the tools you will need to do so.’_

Aloy straightened up, looking back to the window. “Modify it… so you can send larger things through it you mean?” Aloy asked.

_‘Exactly. Then we can really get things underway.’_

Not sure what that meant exactly, Aloy stooped down and gently pried one of the round devices from the bottom corner of the nearest case.

“What exactly is this?” she asked, turning it over in her hand. It was about the size of her fist closed, and was encased in metal aside from one end.

It came to life in her grip, lifting out of her hand, glowing blue energy emitting from the open end.

_‘Mini repulsors, can attach to just about anything and I can move things with them.’_

The other devices detached from their cases and soon Aloy had a dozen of the blue glowing repulsors flying around her.

“Now that could come in handy,” Aloy said, turning on the spot, the lights dancing around her.

Without another word, Aloy set to work. She emptied one of the cases and used it as a step stool and began by sawing off the pegs that supported the bottom two swinging glass panels.

The pod helpers carted down the wood framed panes as she removed them. Then she climbed up into the window ledge itself to cut out the top two panes.

The fresh air coming through the window after she accomplished this was nice. She stood in the window, her hands on the remaining wooden frame, looking out. The weather was significantly better today, a clear blue sky upon which the Spire sat, glittering with its usual power.

“Saw,” she said, and obediently two of her little assistants brought it back to her. Aloy could get used to this, she thought as she fired up the saw.

_‘Perfect.’_

Aloy stood back on the firm floor, looking up at the now very open window.

“What if it rains?” Aloy asked playfully, having just carved a hole in her new home and finding it amusing.

_‘We’ll install a door before long. There's lots to do, but I'll help.’_

Aloy reached out to touch one of the flying pods as it passed, it dodged and let out a sequence of pleasantly toned beeps as it sped to join its fellows in attaching to the removed pieces of the window. Before Aloy could ask what they were doing they flew off with the remnants out the window.

“Efficient,” Aloy said, unable to keep the surprise from her voice. “Alright then GAIA. What’s next?”

—————-

Erend’s second day of sobriety felt just as bad as his first. He'd stumbled through it with exhaustion that turned out to be a blessing in the end. No time to drink when you pass out on the couch half an hour after your evening debrief.

The third day felt mildly better, and by the fourth he finally managed to sleep through the night without waking up in a sweat, body sparking from the withdrawal.

Thanks to this he was already out the door that morning before Gareth even reached it. He came up short on the step up, looking surprised.

“Morning, Gareth,” he said, taking the three steps down from his stoop and onto the street.

“Morning, Cap,” Gareth greeted, following. He seemed at a loss for words beyond that, following in the Captain’s wake.

It was the first time in a long time Erend could remember that he felt like a normal human this early in the morning. It gave the whole routine a different feel. He was alert, his eyes actually seeing the merchants as they opened their stalls for the morning shoppers. Actually noticed the people wending their way to their own early morning posts.

If Avad had noticed the change, he didn't note it. The morning meeting went as it always did: uneventfully.

As they returned to the city to begin their rounds, Gareth broke the silence that had fallen between them.

“Dolores asked about you last night.”

Erend blinked, nearly missing their turn to the Southern pass. It took him longer than it should to realize that Gareth meant the pretty barmaid. “Oh?” He tries to cover his moment by clearing his throat. “What did you tell her?”

“That I didn't know,” Gareth said, as they continued their trek along the path overlooking the valley towards the Eastern gate. “Because technically I don't actually.”

“I quit drinking.”

Erend delivered these words flatly, not breaking his gait though Gareth nearly paused, and had to do a couple quick steps to fall back in line with the Captain.

“That's what I thought,” he said. “So you haven't since…”

“Since I smashed up my apartment,” Erend answered. The alternative answer hung over them. Since he'd drunkenly spoke to Aloy and then smashed up his apartment.

Gareth let the silence between them return, and they proceeded with rounds.

Erend would be lying if he claimed she hadn't been on his mind. Hard as he might try he somehow remembered how she looked that night very clearly.

His mind had clung particularly to the things that were different. Like her hair.

So long. Nearly twice as long as before. A waterfall of ginger waved interspersed with braids. Somehow he remembered the way she'd ran her own fingers through it, holding it as she stepped back from him, letting it fly free as she stepped forward to reach for him.

Sober Erend had replayed this conversation endlessly in his mind, marking the spots he would have done different, recoiling at the dismissive tone he'd struck by the end.

No one had brought her up in days, and despite whipping his head around at the slightest hints of red in his peripheral, he hadn't seen her anywhere around Meridian.

This was all to change that afternoon, when after lunch Erend and Gareth set to cross through the marketplace on their way to the elevators at the southernmost edge of the Mesa.

Gareth actually saw her first, throwing out an elbow into Erend's ribs as they turned the corner into the open square of merchant stalls. Aloy was speaking to the lady who dealt in unique ancient artifacts. She was wearing Carja silks in red and yellow, the skirt came down her thighs at angles, his eyes moved up to where her hair cascaded down the woven silk back her shirt.

He had frozen on the spot, something he realized when Gareth elbowed him again.

Aloy looked to be wrapping up her transaction and Erend was seized with the urge to hide. To their immediate right was a stitcher stall, with curtained dressing rooms. She was turning, and he did the only thing he could think. One of the dressing rooms was open and Erend dove into it, pulling the curtain closed.

“You coward,” he heard Gareth hiss, then nothing for what felt like an eternity.

“Gareth, good to see you.” Her voice drifted to him clearly through the curtain he was half clinging to, so familiar it was like a balm.

“Good afternoon, Aloy,” Gareth answered. “Have you been settling in okay?”

Settling in? And Aloy had greeted him by name. Erend released the curtain from his grip, straightening up and listening hard.

“Pretty well actually,” she said. “Is Erend with you?”

There was a pause here and Erend cursed himself for being able to clearly imagine her looking around the market for him.

“Not… at the moment,” Gareth answered.

“How's he been doing?” There was genuine concern in her voice and Erend was both grateful for and regretting his decision to hide at the same time.

“He's doing okay,” Gareth answered. “I guess that means you haven't seen him?”

Aloy let's out an audible sigh. “Not yet, no. I guess I'm still giving him his space,” she answered. “I wanted to thank you again, for giving me a place to stay those first couple nights. You should come by and visit sometime, new place is coming alone nicely.”

Gareth had sputtered, and Erend had found himself clenching his fists, his face inches from the curtain.

Aloy had STAYED with him?

Erend was reeling, he barely heard the goodbye that followed this revelatory series of statements.

“Cap, she’s gone,” came Gareth's low whisper.

Erend whipped back the curtain, startling the clerk as he stalked out and around the counter. About a million questions flooded his mind, but instead of voicing them he turned and stalked off the way they'd been heading, past the merchant Aloy had been speaking to, and he didn't stop until he reached the closed golden doors to one of the elevators.

Gareth was practically running to catch up at this point, he skidded to a halt just as the doors folded, a pair of Carja citizens vacating the car so that the pair of Vanguard could step in.

Erend threw the switch with a bit more gusto than necessary.

“Look, Cap, she needed a place to stay,” Gareth said. “She crashed on my couch for two nights and I didn't tell you because I knew it'd upset you.”

“Did you guys talk about me?” Erend asked. “Who am I kidding of course you did.”

Gareth seemed to choose his words carefully, leaning against the golden grated as the elevator descended. “She seems to really care about you,” he said. When Erend gave no response, he went on. “Anyway, she only stayed the two nights, then she got a place on the East side and I haven't seen her for a few days.”

The elevator doors opened, they had reached the base of the mesa. Erend's feet didn't move, however. Gareth was one step from the wall but stopped.

“What do you mean ‘she got a place’?”

Gareth looked half amused and half exasperated. “Aloy bought that old blacksmith’s place,” he said. “You remember the one, had the cheapest armor but the quality was shite. Shut down a few months back.”

“What the hell would she want with a smith’s shop?” Erend’s brain couldn't quite wrap around this, she had bought a place. In Meridian. Aloy. Aloy had bought a place.

“No idea,” Gareth said. “You coming?”

Gareth had clearly tired of waiting, and had exited the elevator, leaving Erend no choice but to follow.

—————-

It was amazing what could be accomplished in about a week, Aloy thought as she slowly turned on her rolling stool to look around the now packed space that was the first floor of her place.

One wall was cordoned off by glass walls, the combat simulator space still in progress. Opposite this was a fabrication unit, like a miniature cauldron. It was humming and flashing light, working on a projector component for the simulator.

Up against the back wall, Aloy had her three monitor console set back up. One screen was scrolling with data and it was an almost comforting sight.

_‘Query: how was your stew?’_

“It was lovely thanks,” Aloy said, glancing at the old food synthesizer that had arrived from the facility for her use. “Want to look at that prototype design again?”

GAIA complied. And it came on the screen. The miniature repulsors had given Aloy an idea. That combined with flying in on the Stormbird when she arrived. It was incredibly convenient to be able to fly places, but she couldn't call a dirty great machine bird into city limits to pick her up if she needed.

So at her suggestion GAIA had begun work on a personal transport system, so far it was just a concept: a board of sorts Aloy could stand on, propelled by variations on the repulsor pods.

_‘Could be ready to build a working model by tomorrow, still running some airflow simulations to streamline the shape.’_

The image shifted to a sideways view of the way the board curved, glowing animated arrows showing the flow of air over the top and bottom.

“What did you decide on how to keep my feet anchored while also allowing easy dismount?” Aloy asked, spinning aimlessly in the stool again, watching as the equipment in the room blurred around her.

_‘Electromagnets. Two in special boots, and two built into the vehicle itself.’_

“Interesting,” Aloy said, watching as the design for the shoes turned around on the screen next to that of the board. Aloy yawned, it was dark out the window and had been for a while.

_‘We can discuss it further in the morning.'_

Aloy nodded, rising from her seat, and heading up the stairs. “Goodnight, GAIA,” she said, pausing at the top of the stairs to remove her Focus and set it on a ledge just outside the door to the apartment itself.

She had been quick to establish the upstairs as a tech free zone. GAIA was ever present in almost all aspects of her life and Aloy needed somewhere where she had privacy.

_‘Goodnight, Aloy.’_

Aloy pushed open the door at the top of the stairs and entered her apartment.

It was a loft more than anything else. Her bedroom was directly connected to the rest of it with just a folding screen partition that she hadn't bothered unfolding. To her right when she entered was the kitchen, in the center of which was a dining table with two chairs that so far she had yet to even eat at.

The apartment was just enough, it had everything she needed. She had the big tub in the washroom to bath in. She had the kitchen should she ever want to actually cook anything. And she had a bed of the finest Carja make.

She'd spent the first night sleeping on a bedroll longing for Gareth’s couch. The following day she'd gone and spared no expense acquiring a bed.

Aloy stripped out of her Carja silk outfit, donning her loose cotton tunic and pants from the facility as she always did for sleep. Then she slid beneath the silk covers.

Somehow, despite being there a week, and going out into the city several times, Aloy hadn't seen Erend since that first night she'd arrived.

This hadn't bothered her at first, but with each passing day there was an itch to go and find him. She'd spent months living alone, without another human for miles. Now she was living among hundreds if not thousands of people, and she still felt all alone.

Aloy pulled a pillow to her, wrapping her arms around it, wishing it was him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason this chapter was like trying to juice a raisin. The necessary bridge from where I was to where I needed to be I hope it came out okay. 
> 
> The next couple chapters have been in my head a while and I'm SO READY.
> 
> Thanks for continuing to read my NaNoWriMo craziness.


	13. And I Hope That I'm Not Too Late

One week. Erend had been sober for one week. This was the first thought that occurred to him as he awoke, on what would be the last day of duty before two days off. He’d been looking forward to the time off but was beginning to worry what he would fill his days with.

He had discovered that was the key. The key to ignoring the itch at the back of his throat, the thirst that never seemed to fade: keeping busy. Staying away from idle moments that would lead him to the bar.

The night before he’d walked two blocks towards the bar before managing to reroute himself. Somehow he’d ended up on the Alight. The Spire glowing with its new power was all the more impressive at night. He’d hoped to take the time to clear his head, but he’d come back down with more questions than answers.

As a result he hadn’t slept as well as he could have, but at least he was rising on time.

Erend swung his legs from the bed, padding barefoot to the washroom to relieve himself. It hadn’t been all that bad of a week, come to think of it. He was still nursing a fair amount of shame for hiding like he had in the market, and he still hadn’t managed the courage to seek her out to talk to her since.

But he was sober. And he was cleaner and more put together than he had been in months.

He seized these small victories and pushed himself through his morning preparations. He shaved his face and head. He put on clean clothes, and layered on his intricate armor.

One week. It shouldn’t have been as momentous as it was, but he couldn’t say when the last time he could have claimed this was. He just needed to have a good day.

Gareth was waiting for him at the base of the steps down from the front porch. No longer did he look surprised to see his Captain up and ready to face the day.

“Morning, Cap,” he said, falling into step on their route to the Sun-Palace.

“G’morning,” Erend said. Business as usual. He just needed to go through the day and NOT think about her. Focus on the tasks at hand, stay in the moment.

This needed to be not just one week but the first week of multiple weeks.

Erend pulled himself from these thoughts, as their armored boots met with the wood of the bridge. The line of Carja guards on either side plopped their weapons down and stood at attention as the two Vanguard passed.

Marad and the King were both seated around the low center table, drinking tea, when the men arrived in the sitting room. A cup each awaited the Vanguard, who sidled into their seats.

The morning meeting began as usual, addressing the repetitive day to day they discussed on any given day. Then, as Erend thought the thing was winding down, Avad set down his empty cup and fixed Erend with a look that couldn’t mean anything good.

“I have heard tell that Aloy has returned to Meridian.”

So much for going through the day not thinking about her, Erend thought ruefully as he also set down his cup back on the tray.

“Oh, is that so?” Erend asked, tamping down the ever increasing urge to overturn the tea table for a distraction and evacuate the sitting room at top speed.

Marad sat up straighter in his seat. “People have seen her up by the Spire. Out in the market. Word travels fast here in Meridian,” he said.

Erend resisted the urge to say that it hadn’t traveled but so fast as she’d been there a week.

“I must say, I had hoped she would come see me should she return to Meridian,” Avad said. “Have you seen her?”

Opening his mouth dumbly, Erend’s words died in his throat. Neither of the times he’d seen her were moments he wanted to explain to the King. He cleared his throat, thinking fast, when next to him Gareth spoke for what felt like the first time since they arrived.

“We ran into her in the market,” Gareth said, decidedly not looking at his fellow Vanguard seated next to him. “But Erend hid.”

A groan left Erend’s lips as Marad let out a laugh. Avad looked amused, shaking his head. “Well then you might not like what I have for you to do today,” the King said, crossing one of his legs over the other, bouncing his claw toed shoe.

“No,” Erend managed, wishing he still had some tea in his cup to wet his bone dry throat.

“Yes, I would like you an audience with her, and I’m sending you to request it,” Avad said, now folding his hands together in his lap, fixing Erend with a piercing look.

One week and Erend would probably punch the King on the nose right then if it would get him out of this and get a drink into his hand.

Instead, he nodded mutely.

“Gareth, I trust you can take care of rounds,” Avad said. It wasn’t a question.

Gareth said something Erend's didn’t absorb, the meeting was dissolving around him and it took every ounce of his concentration to remember how to stand up. Avad had turned to Marad, and they were discussing something else entirely, Erend felt a hand on his elbow tugging.

He let Gareth half haul him out of the sitting room. He didn’t release Erend’s arm until they reached the landing midway down the marble stairs.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Gareth asked.

Erend blinked, taking the remaining steps to the railing and leaning his back on it. “No,” he said finally. “We both know I have to do this alone.”

A moment of silence stretches over them. “You look good, Cap,” Gareth said. “You got this.”

You got this. Erend repeats this in his head, taking a deep breath, and giving his friend a pat on the shoulder.

—————-

_‘Fabrication cycle 100%’_

Aloy pushed her stool away from the main console, rising to her feet to cross the room. A robotic arm retrieved the component from the heart of the fabricator, and placed it on the adjacent work table.

_‘One portable, three dimensional, holographic interface. As requested.’_

The device was the size of a tea cup saucer, and jet black aside from the blue tinted center encased in some sort of glass.

“Shall we try it out?” Aloy asked. She stepped into the open space at the center of the shop and placed the device on the floor, depressing the blue button.

It flickered to life, she was about to tell GAIA to throw whatever she wanted up on the display, when a purple human figure coalesced before her.

GAIA gathered her flowing toga like robe around herself, and turned to face Aloy. Her projection faded at the ankles to where the device sat on the ground.

“Great, you're taller than me,” Aloy joked taking slow steps around the projection, which was indeed three dimensional. “Holographic quality is excellent. And let's see what happens if I.”

Aloy stopped and picked up the device. She held it out in her hand and now it was GAIA from the shoulders up, raising her eyebrows at Aloy and smiling.

“And I can display anything I want on it?” Aloy asked, setting the device on the console desk alongside the bank of monitors.

GAIA disappeared to be replaced with a turning map of the lands surrounding Meridian, speckled with dots that indicated machines.

_‘It can also do projection light shows.’_

Aloy had sat back down on the stool, she perked up curiously, not knowing quite what that meant.

“Light shows?” Aloy repeated. “What is a show?”

_‘A show is something for entertainment. In this case with lights set to music.’_

Now music was something Aloy understood, the rest was a bit confusing. So when GAIA offered to show her, Aloy agreed.

The glow on all the monitors dimmed, and the holographic projector set to life, first sending beamed of different color spinning around it, projecting dots that zoomed around every surface of the shop.

The music kicked on, a voice coming through speakers in multiple differed directions.

“Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time. I feel aliiiiiiiive,” the voice sings.

Aloy knew it, was already tapping her toe before the speed crescendoed, as did the lights. She rolled the stool away from the console, finding her feet, carried into motion by the sound of the music and the frenzy of the lights.

“Don't stop me now,” sang the music. “‘Cause I'm having a good time. I'm having a baaaall.”

—————-

Erend stood on the street, facing the steps up to her front door, for longer than he would ever admit to anyone. It wasn't until he finally gathered the courage to climb them that he heard the music coming from within.

At least, he thought it must be music, it was unlike any music he had ever heard before. It was louder and faster. He checked in front of the door, before reaching up a gloved first and knocking.

He could barely hear his own knocks over the sound from within, and though he knew he should probably just knock again only harder, he reached for the handle.

Surprisingly it was unlocked, he pushed it open enough to look inside.

Erend’s breath caught in his throat, his body freezing where it was, the door cracked a few inches, just enough for him to see her dancing.

Aloy was wearing the Carja silk number again, the flaps of the skirt swung around her legs as she twirled barefoot across the floor. The music was peppy and upbeat, and she swung her hips in time with it, occasionally running her hands along her own body.

He knew he should make his presence known. Perhaps close the door and knock again, but he was entranced. His eyes were caught up in the river of fire that was her hair.

_‘Rendering complete on those modifications you requested.’_

Erend blinked, the voice came from nowhere it seemed, but it drew Aloy’s attention to a bank of monitors momentarily. “That is excellent news!” Even as she bent over to look at the displays, her hips were bouncing to the music.

Then suddenly the music was getting quieter. Aloy straightened up. “I was enjoying that,” she protested.

_‘Apologies, Aloy, but you appear to have a visitor.’_

Shit shit shit. Aloy turned, her eyes coming to the door. Erend went ahead and opened it enough so that she could see it was him.

“Erend!” She sounded surprised, sidestepping the stool to walk part of the way towards him. “Come in.”

Erend swallowed down the knot in his throat, stepped in and closed the door behind him. “I, um, tried to knock” he said, pointing over his shoulder at it as he too walked part of the distance between them. “But I guess you couldn't hear it over the music.”

For a long moment neither of them spoke. She was examining his face, a look in her eye that simultaneously thrilled and terrified him. There were still several steps between them, and he was torn between eliminating them or doubling them.

“When Gareth said you got a place,” Erend said, looking around at the equipment for an excuse to take his eyes from hers. “He didn't quite convey what sort of place. You LIVE here?”

Aloy laughed. “Not down here in the shop no,” she said, shaking her head, his eyes came back in time to see her gesture towards the stairs at the back. “My apartment is upstairs.”

There didn't seem to be anyone there, and yet she'd been speaking to someone. “Who were you talking to?”

“Oh, I was talking to GAIA,” Aloy answered. “She runs the shop and well everything else actually.”

Erend remembers. Remembers the story told with their heads resting upon the pillows on his bed. “The same GAIA that created you?”

—————-

Aloy choked on her next words. She couldn't believe he remembered this detail, hardly remembered telling him. Now he was here, standing in her shop, asking her the hard hitting questions.

He looked good. Sober. She was about to answer him when the holographic projector flickered back into life and GAIA appeared.

_‘Yes. The GAIA who created her. It's nice to meet you in person Erend.’_

Erend’s eyes were wide, he stepped forward towards the console.

Aloy wanted to say a number of things to GAIA at the moment that wouldn't have been appropriate with an audience.

Erend was still gaping at GAIA’s holographic form, shoulders up, where it hovered over the console top.

“Nice to meet you,” he said in a curious voice. “In… person?”

His eyes came back to Aloy, and she felt like she might just stop breathing. “It's as close to in person as she gets,” Aloy said, then unable to go a moment longer without knowing, she was formulating how to ask him why he was there.

It was a waste of energy though, as GAIA ended up beating her to it.

_‘So what brings you by this morning?’_

Aloy’s annoyance with the AI ebbed, as Erend straightened up.

“Actually, Avad sent me,” he said, looking from GAIA to Aloy again. “The Sun-King would like to formally request an audience with you.”

Something inside Aloy seemed to shrink away, recoil back in on itself. Of course, he'd only come because he was sent. She turned from him, sinking down to the stool. “I see.”

She looked to the screen, though she was looking right through the schematic that was displayed on it. to her right GAIA was still eying Erend as if he was a specimen to be examined.

“He seemed upset you hadn't come to see him on your own,” Erend said behind her.

Abruptly Aloy spun the stool to face him. “Oh was he?” she asked, rising to her feet. “Well, you see I went to see one person when I got back to town, it didn't go very well so I set to work instead.”

Erend closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose and pacing from the spot. “Look can we not do this now?” he asked in a pleading voice, a frown framed between the facial hair on his face.

“Fine,” she said. Sitting back down. “Fine.” She rolled back to the monitor, this time rotating the image there aimlessly. “We’re not doing all sorts of things because of your attitude why stop now?”

Then she got her head together, and pulled up some data she might need to have handy. If she was going to chat with the King she might as well be prepared.

_‘She means the fact that the two of you have not resumed your romantic relationship since her return to Meridian.’_

Aloy slapped her hand on the desk top of the console. “GAIA!” she hissed. “Just because someone looks confused doesn't mean you need to explain things to them.”

She chanced a look at Erend, who’s face was flushing red. He ran a hand down his mohawk, avoiding looking at her.

_‘Apologies, my human interaction protocols are rusty.’_

  
Aloy finished with the files, moving them around before returning the screen to the final rendering of the hover board she and GAIA had been working on.

“Anyway, why don't you start fabrication while I'm gone,” Aloy said, reaching for the projector unit to take it with her. GAIA shifted smoothly to one of the monitors as Aloy powered down the device.

Erend stood silent sentry as Aloy stepped around him, retrieving a bag from a peg on the wall, and slinging it diagonally over her, storing the projector disk inside.

_‘Fabrication will take seven and a half hours.’_

“If I'm lucky I'll be back by then,” Aloy joked, sliding on shoes. She felt Erend’s eyes on her, but she didn't meet them as she stood, returning instead to the console to retrieve her Focus. “I'll see you when I get back.”

_‘Very well, see you then. Again, lovely meeting you Erend. I've heard good things, this past week excluded of course.’_

Aloy clenched her teeth, opening her front door. “Goodbye, GAIA.”

—————-

Aloy had seized him by the elbow and practically dragged him from the shop. Erend was still floored, unsure what to make of this GAIA and her strangely accurate insights.

She didn't release his arm until they reached the cobbled street in front of the shop.

“Alright, Captain,” she said. “You've fetched me now lead the way.”

Erend did as he was asked, though he couldn't resist stealing looks at her as they walked. She still exuded the same confidence. The same surety. It was like walking alongside a burning hot flame, one that never extinguished.

They made the walk in silence. She was playing with her own hair, twisting it in her fingers, eyes fixed ahead. He couldn't think of a single thing to say, so he just led them across the bridge, up the stairs and into the sitting room.

Avad looked jubilant at the sight of her, rising from his chair and swooping in to greet her.

“Aloy, you look as beautiful as ever,” he said, ushering her in to a seat.

Erend felt a spasm of annoyance at hearing how easily and smoothly the King doled this compliment upon her. It was true, a million times over, and yet it was not Erend telling her. It should be him. He should have said it the moment he saw her.

Aloy glanced over her shoulder at him as she sat, and he wanted desperately to stay but wasn't sure if he was meant to. He looked to Avad who was looking mildly amused.

“Captain, have a seat.”

Relief courses through him, he went to the same bench Aloy had sat down upon, left one seat between them, and sank down onto the lushly upholstered cushion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *rubs hands together* Ohhhh man this is fun. I hope it's as fun to read. 
> 
> Next chapter is another one I've had in my head a while, where Aloy tells them all exactly where she's been, and what she's been doing. 
> 
> Something Erend doesn't particularly know, no one does. 
> 
> Should be interesting right?
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and a special thanks to my fab commenters. 
> 
> You've kept me writing at this crazy pace. Best NaNoWriMo to date for me.


	14. Back of the Room

Aloy felt relieved as Erend sat down, with a touch of sadness as he left a seat open between them. Still, she wanted him there, in the room at the very least.

“How long has it been?” Avad asked, sitting diagonally across the table from her.

“Two years,” Aloy said, smoothing the silk flaps of her skirt down over her knees. “And a few weeks.”

“Yet here you are, I suppose it isn't a coincidence that you should turn up so close behind the Spire lighting up?” Avad’s voice was casual, but the weight of the question was not lost on her.

She had to resist the urge to fidget with her hair, straightening up in her seat and forcing herself to meet the King’s gaze. “Not coincidence, no,” she agreed. “The Spire lit up because I brought the network back online.” Blank looks greeted her at this statement, and she wondered at how to even begin to explain.

“And the machines?” Marad asked. Aloy turned to look at him. He hadn't changed an iota since last she'd seen him. He had the same dark ponytail, the same diamond shape machine casing strapped across his forehead like a headband.

“Are also on the same network now,” Aloy said, nodding. “I… don't really know where to begin. It's complicated.”

“It took you two years so I can only imagine just how complicated,” Avad said.

Aloy let out a long sigh, picking at a thread on the edge of her silk skirt. “If only that was an accurate number,” she said, with a sad smile. “But the truth is it took me 21 years. My whole life. Even when I didn't know that's what I was doing at the time.”

Silence fell again. Marad and the King exchanged confused looks. Aloy chanced a look to her left. Erend looked like he was trying to work something out, staring at his own hands.

“That didn't explain anything,” Aloy said.

“Not really, no,” the King said, shaking his head.

“Alright so do you want the short version or the long version?” Aloy asked, bringing her bag to sit in her lap, fishing out the projector disc.

“Exactly how long is the long version?” Marad asked, watching as she placed the disc on the tea table.

“Well it goes back a few hundred years to the fall of the ancient ones,” Aloy said, rising to her feet, knowing she'd be unable to sit and tell this. “So fairly long.”

She sidled between Erend’s knees and the table to pass him, he looked up, meeting her eyes as she went by. Curiosity burned in them, she'd been counting on this. On him getting to stay, if he wasn't going to talk to her one on one, this was one way to explain… everything.

“You… know what happened to the ancient ones?” Avad was sitting forward in his chair, staring down at the idle disc.

“I do,” Aloy said. “Because it's all connected.”

“I'll take the long story,” Erend said. Aloy had her back to him and couldn't bring herself to look, turning her eyes to the King’s instead. He was nodding, agreeing.

“Alright then.” Aloy leaned down and depressed the blue button, activating the device.

A bright blue globe now hung above the table, rotating slowly. Aloy let it turn, gathering her thoughts, this was her opportunity. To finally come out of the shadows with everything.

“This, is Earth,” she began simply. “Our planet. At the height of human civilization it housed a population of twelve billion humans.”

“Billion?” Marad breathed.

“Yes, billion, they lived in huge cities.” The view of the planet zoomed, coming in on a sky scraper strewn city scape. “They're technology had advanced over centuries, to the point that it was all that made it possible to keep such a large population afloat.” She showed them large farming operations, huge machines harvesting crops.

“They created the original machines,” Erend said, now even he was leaning forward in his seat, all three men gazing raptly at the holographic projection before them.

Aloy was pacing the length of the table, she took two quick steps towards him. “Yes! That's where things started to go wrong in fact,” Aloy said. She brought up a building, tall with mountains behind it, the Faro logo glowing red atop it. “Enter Faro Robotics, they made machines. At first, for environments purposes. The company CEO Ted Faro partnered with Elisabet Sobeck to develop machines meant to help heal the damage such an enormous population had done to the planet.”

The hologram showed machines putting out a forest fire, surrounded by smoke that would have killed any human.

“But Ted got greedy. He wanted to use the developments made during the Clawback initiative to make other sorts of machines,” Aloy said. “You might recognize them.”

Erend in particular recoiled as a Deathbringer appeared in three dimensions, it's legs in motion? It's guns ablaze.

“Why?” he asked. “Why would they want to build those?”

“War,” Aloy answered. “Ted called them ‘peacekeepers’ but he and Faro Robotics silently fueled an arms race of highly armed machines, with the capability to self-replicate and to power themselves by harvesting biomatter.”

Aloy pulled up a clip of Faro robots harvesting from a forest, the image zooming out to show just how many of the trees had been destroyed.

“Self-replicate?” Marad repeated the words. “The machines could make more machines on their own?”

“Exactly. It was supposed to be controlled by the humans who had purchased said machines from Faro Robotics, but at some point something went wrong,” Aloy said, shaking her head. “And a swarm of Faro robots severed ties with all forms of human command, and went rogue.”

The video flashes up terrifying footage of the machines storming trough a smaller city, which was on fire.

“Thus was born the Faro Plague. A plague of machines that would render the planet Earth unlivable to any living organism in fifteen months. Feeding off every living thing until there was nothing left.”

What followed on the projection was a series of videos of the last recorded moments Aloy had found before the planet went dark. Machines rolling monuments. Destroying homes.

“But, we’re still here,” Marad said.

“We’re here,” Aloy agreed, with a wave of her hand dismissing the images from the projection. “But the word still is not accurate. We, humans, did cease to exist on this planet.Then we were brought back.”

This was harder to explain than Aloy had anticipated. She was forgetting details, getting things out of order. “Do you remember my mention of the scientist Elisabet Sobeck, the one who helped put Faro Robotics on the map?” Aloy asked, bringing up an image of the woman. Elisabet hovered, her hair hanging to just above her shoulders, spinning slowly.

Erend was staring particularly hard at this image, and Aloy had to remind herself just why she was doing this. When she was done they would all know what exactly she was.

“Well, she quit when Ted began making his war mongering machines,” Aloy said. “But when the swarm went rogue, Ted went to her for help. She knew there wasn't time to stop what was coming, so instead she set to work on a system that would resurrect the planet after it was already dead. She called this project Zero Dawn.”

“When you said it was complicated, you weren't kidding,” Avad said.

Aloy laughed. “No, I wasn't, but to simplify this the important thing here is that Elisabet created GAIA. A highly intelligent, learning, artificial intelligence that was created to run the entire system. GAIA with the help of several subordinate functions, would spend several hundred years rehabilitating earth, and repopulating it from cradle facilities such as the one within All-Mother mountain.”

The mountain came up on the holographic projector.

“So, it worked,” Marad said. “They actually succeeded in resurrecting the planet.”

Aloy nodded. “Everything was going nearly to plan until about 22 years ago,” she said, tossing a thick band of red hair over her shoulder. “Tell me, have any of you ever heard about the explosion that happened way to the north of here. I was told once it could be seen as far as the Claim.”

Her eyes came to Erend. He shifted his weight in his seat before looking up to her. “I'm not old enough to remember. I was like two or three but my sister used to talk about it. They say it burned for weeks. No one ever knew what it was because it was too high up in the mountains, even the delvers didn't dare try to go.”

  
“It was the GAIA Prime facility,” Aloy explained, bringing up an image of the now destroyed facility. “22 years ago something, somewhere sent a signal that caused GAIA to lose control over her subordinates. One of those I'm sure you all will remember: Hades.”

The ripple of motion around the men told her just how well they all remembered.

“With Zero Dawn fully functional, it would have been a matter of minutes before Hades sent out a signal to reactivate the Faro robots. GAIA sent a message to the cradle facility inside All-Mother mountain and then she triggered a catastrophic malfunction inside the power generators, and blew the Prime facility asunder to keep Hades from using the network to destroy us all.”

“She killed herself to save us,” Avad said thoughtfully. “What was in the message she sent?”

Aloy swallowed, the moment was here and she was trying hard not to falter. “I'll show you,” she said. “It took me a long time to get into the mountain to reach it, and I was only just in time.”

Aloy hit play on the file. She'd probably watched the message over a hundred times. So instead she watched the men’s faces and let the words flow by her.

_‘With no central governing intelligence to regulate the terraforming system, it will continue operations for some time, but in an increasingly chaotic manner, and eventually, it will break down.’_

“The derangement,” Erend breathes, his eyes were wide.

“Yes!” Aloy confirms. But he doesn't look at her, listening raptly as GAIA explains that Aloy is a re-instantiation of Elisabet Sobeck.

_‘Your gene print will allow you to enter other facilities, and over time, harness their technologies to rebuild the system core and reboot GAIA.’_

The looks of horror on the men's faces as the red tentacles of Hades began to overtake the message, and GAIA realized he's freed himself and the other subordinates.

‘ _Elisabet, I know you too well. Somehow you will find a way. In you, all things are possible.’_

Aloy swallowed hard. It was almost over, and as it dissolved she found she didn't know what exactly to say next.

“You ARE Elisabet Sobeck,” Marad said, staring at her.

“Genetically speaking, yes,” Aloy answered. “This brings you up to a battle you were all present for. I received that message, scaled the bitter climb to retrieve the override apparatus from the Prime facility, and used it to purge Hades up on the Alight.”

“But your job wasn't done,” Avad said, bringing his eyes up from to hers. “I had no idea. I thought stopping Hades was it, but there was more.”

Erend wasn't looking at her, and she desperately wanted him to meet her eyes. To see her when she said what she said next.

“I wish that had been it,” she said. “But you heard the message. I was created, brought to life solely to stop Hades and rebuild GAIA. My only purpose.”

There, that did it. His eyes came to hers, his head shaking as if he didn't believe that for a second, and it made her stomach flutter.

—————-

Erend couldn't have spoke if he wanted to. There was so much information, so much he hadn't realized, all at once. They'd only JUST gotten to the two years she'd been gone, and already he was emotionally exhausted from the journey.

Here she was standing before them telling them she was made solely to serve a machine and a part of him wanted to shake her, to tell her that wasn't all. But he sat frozen, shaking his head as if that said anything at all.

“So that's where you've been for two years?” Avad asks after a silence that felt like it had lasted an eternity. “Rebuilding this system.”

Aloy drug her eyes from Erend's, straightening up. “Yes, first I spent over a year in the Prime facility, extracting GAIA’s consciousness from the hardware there,” she answered. The facility was back up on the holographic display, the crater that it was.

She'd lived there over a year? Erend couldn't even imagine this.

“Nine months ago I moved her, to a back up facility in the South,” Aloy went on, back to her pacing, a map came up showing a route from the mountains in the North far into the rolling hills in the South.

The marked path went West colliding with Meridian before moving Southeast again.

“GAIA was on a battery powered hard drive about the size of a barrel. With 70 hours of life,” she said. “I had three days to make the journey and get power to the unit or I would have to try again. I made it with four hours to spare.”

Erend stared at the route. Nine months ago she had stopped in Meridian looking for him. She couldn't stop, and now he knew why. She had precious hours ticking away, and yet she'd still tried.

“I spent the last nine months getting that facility up and running, and getting GAIA back online,” she said, seemingly winding down, and looking tired from all the talking. She slid past him, her thigh brushing his knee, then she was seated one seat away from him again.

“You reversed the derangement,” Marad said.

“Technically GAIA did,” Aloy said.

Avad had been quiet a while, he looked thoughtfully at the display, which still showed the map.

“So after all of this, what brings you back to Meridian?” the King asked. “I must admit with the strange happenings with the Spire and you turning up I feared another eminent Hades type of situation.”

“Nothing like that,” Aloy said with a laugh. “I spent two years living alone in metal boxes, and when I sat down to think of where I'd go when I was done, Meridian was the only place I thought of for a … number of reasons.”

Aloy didn't look at him, but Erend felt the slightest shift in her posture in his direction. Then she reached forward and deactivated the device, storing it back in her bag.

It felt like his heart might beat right out of his chest. His mind was combing through it all. Every bit. Trying to digest it all. Trying to understand it all.

“Then we welcome you as a new citizen of the Sundom,” Avad said. He stood, extending a hand. Aloy rose as well, shaking it. “I hope you will not be a stranger. In fact, you must come and have dinner with me and the wife sometime.”

“You're… married?” Aloy stammered, looking surprised.

“Yes yes, see we have loads to catch up on,” he said. “We will have to set something up.”

Avad was ushering her from the room, and Erend stood only just realizing. He wanted to go after her, but he was on duty and instead stood as Avad bid her farewell at the sitting room door.

Her eyes flicked to his for the briefest of moments before she disappeared from view.

Avad returned to his seat. Erend couldn't make himself sit back down, he turned to his King, trying to make his mouth form words.

“Oh will you go,” Avad said, waving a hand to indicate he meant it.

Erend didn't need to be told twice, he strode the length of the room at top speed. He was halfway down the first flight of stairs when he realized she was waiting for him.

Aloy stood on the same landing upon which she had once promised him two minutes of her time. She was leaning on the carved marble railing, her hair moving in the wind. He took the last couple stairs slowly, eyes roving her silk covered back.

Erend walked right up to her shoulder, leaning on the railing next to her, their elbows inches apart.

“City looks good,” she said, her eyes still forward.

Erend looked out at the Meridian skyline with her. “Took a while, but she's in good shape now,” he agreed.

“I missed it. The city I mean,” she said, then she turned, resting a hip on the rail, facing him. “I missed you.”

He wanted to reach out for her, but he only turned his head. “I missed you, too.”

They stand like this for a while. Her turned to his shoulder, his chin angled as he looked down at her. Aloy’s fingers were back in her hair, and even in the brief times he's seen her since her return this gesture already feels familiar to him.

“So,” he says, trying to fill the silence. “That's why you couldn't wait. The battery thing.”

“I didn't mean to hurt you,” Aloy said, and one of her hands left her hair, coming to his arm. Her fingers came to rest on his striped shirt above his elbow. “I wanted to see you, I wanted so badly for you to be here.”

Erend was frozen, reminding himself to breath. It was what he had always wanted to believe. Always wanted to hear.

“I thought about going after you,” he said, turning his eyes from hers because it was difficult to string words together while she was staring through him to his soul. “Day and a half lead but I bet I could have picked up some sort of trail.”

“Why didn't you?” Her hand was still on his arm, and finally he yielded to the gentle pressure and turned his body to face hers.

Erend remembered why and it burns. “At that point I didn't think you would want me to,” he said.

The hand on his arm tightened, and Aloy stepped forward, wrapping her other arm around his side. She buried her face in his scarf, and before he knew it he was winding his arms around her, fingers brushing through the ginger waterfall of hair. She was warm, and Erend held her against him in a hug he hadn't known he'd needed so badly until she was in his arms.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might have been boring. I hope it wasn't boring.


	15. How Come my Friends All Seem to Know You

Now that she was there, arms clinging around his armored waist, face buried in his golden scarf, the last thing Aloy wanted to do was let go. Neither spoke but she couldn’t help but feel there was a lot unsaid in this hug.

One of Erend’s hands ran slow circles on her back, and he’d tucked her head under his chin. It was more than she’d been touched in two years, and if it had been anyone else she probably would have found it overwhelming. But it was Erend, sturdy and strong, the same smell of leather and steel she remembered.

The sound of running footsteps hammering across the bridge, armored ones, came thundering to her ears, and before she knew it Erend had loosed his arms. He turned from her to greet his man, it was one of the Vanguard from the other night. She couldn't remember his name as her arms fell back to her side, now looking at Erend’s back.

“What is it, Brant?” he demanded.

The young Vanguard skidded to a halt on the landing, doubling over and breathing hard as he spoke. “Sawtooth. Attacked some traders on their way in from the West. Gareth and Elof went after it.”

Aloy was fumbling in the pouch on her hip, fingers feeling for her Focus. She'd taken it off in hopes of having a private conversation with Erend that GAIA wouldn't play back for analysis later.

“I thought all the machines were tame?” Erend asked, he had turned back to her and now both men were looking at her as she pressed the device to her ear.

She held up a finger to them, trying to ignore the huff of impatience Erend let out when she did so. “GAIA-“  
was all she managed before the AI was speaking in her ear.

_‘You picked an inconvenient time to turn off your Focus.’_

“Yeah sorry about that, I was-“

_‘There is a Rogue Sawtooth wreaking havoc with a Grazer herd here.’_

The map floated into her vision. “Define rogue sawtooth. I thought you had all the machines,” Aloy said, turning so that Erend wasn't in the background of her Focus interface, arms crossed over his chest, a frown on his face.

This timing could not have been worse.

_‘I have all machines on the network. Any machine that might not be online for whatever reason...’_

“Not on the network. Not overridden. Got it. I'm going to need my spear,” she said.

‘ _Already nearly there.’_

Aloy turned back to the two Vanguard. “Gonna have to tame this one manually,” she said. Behind her she could hear the whir of the mini repulsors, both men were now looking past her puzzled.

She took two steps back, and reached up just in time to snatch her spear as it floated above her head. Half a dozen pods detaching immediately, then after flying a quick lap around her they stowed themselves in her bag.

“Let’s go,” Aloy said, walking between the befuddled pair and down the steps.

Her feet had barely made the bridge when Erend came bellowing behind her. “Now wait just a minute, you can't just take over and call the shots just because it's about a machine. I've already got guys on it.”

Aloy paused. “I'm sorry, you're right,” she said, a little too sarcastically. “I meant I'm going, and you can do whatever you want, Captain.”

If she wasn't mistaken the Carja guards lining the bridge were all sharing looks as she and Erend faced off on the bridge. He was grinding his teeth, fists clenched. To think just minutes before he'd been holding her almost delicately…

“Fine,” he muttered, finally. “Let’s go.”

Aloy led the way, allowing Erend and his man Brant to lag a little ways behind. They caught up at the elevator and shared a silent ride down. They were walking out the Western gate when GAIA spoke in her ear again.

_‘There are two men here engaging the Sawtooth.’_

“I was afraid of that,” Aloy said, breaking out into a run. Across the river, following the trail to the Northwest, around a steep rocky canyon wall and it all came into view.

The herd of grazers was skittering away, now that the Sawtooth had turned its attention to the two men in Vanguard uniform. Gareth had a bow, firing it into one of the machine’s guns in an attempt to disable it. She had no idea how far behind the others might be, but she wasn't going to wait for them.

Aloy’s spear was of GAIA’s own design, the metal it was made of glittered silver in the sunlight. She found a button near the blunt end of the weapon, of which housed an overriding unit far more advanced than any she'd had in years prior. She depressed this, and immediately a red flashing light appeared inside this end of the spear, along with a beeping call.

The Sawtooth looked immediately to the sound, it pawed the ground, snarling at her as she took slow steps down the hill towards it. Then after the briefest hesitation it bounded right path Gareth, who jumped back, falling safely into some tall grass.

“Good boy, come to momma,” Aloy said. “Deploy the pods.”

_‘Repulsor pods deployed.’_

The Sawtooth was running forward, behind her she heard Erend call her name, a panicked tone to his voice. The blue glow of the pods swirled past her as they left her bag, flying full force towards the oncoming machine.

It was midjump when they latched on, a few more seconds and it would have been on her. Instead the machine was snarling and snapping at her a good six feet away, it's feet hovering above the ground.

“That's better,” Aloy said, deactivating the beacon in her spear. “I know that noise is so annoying isn't it.” She said this to the snarling face of the Sawtooth, as she spun the spear in her hands. Then she took two steps forward and jabbed the overriding apparatus into its neck.

Lights spun out from the spear, blue tendrils snaking down the flank of the machine. She held it there, as the process completed, before retracting the spear and allowing the repulsor pods to lower the Sawtooth back to the ground.

_‘Nicely done.’_

Aloy laughed, as the pods all zoomed back into her bag just as Erend and the rest of his men closed in around her and then now tame machine.

“That was fucking amazing!” Elof, if she was remembering the name correctly, bellowed. The machine turned at the noise, causing the Vanguard to shrink back and fall quiet.

“Easy there,” Aloy said, stepping forward and placing a hand on the neck of the Sawtooth where it had curved to look at the man. The machine shuffled its feet, turning back to her. “You can go.”

It did just that, backing slowly from the circle of people before turning and running full tilt off into the wilderness.

—————-

Erend was at a loss for words, as seemed to be the others. Well, most of the others. Brant had launched into a million questions. Aloy was answering them patiently, eyes sliding every now and again to where Erend stood.

He had a million questions also but none of them had anything to do with the Sawtooth. He was floored by the level of technology Aloy could seem to summon whenever she needed it, it was impressive, but it also caused the nasty little voice in the back of his mind to wake from its slumber.

Two years. All this technology. Never a peep.

Sure, she had reasons why she couldn't stay put nine months ago. But that was one 70 hour period in TWO YEARS.

The cold familiar hands of pain and rejection were gripping his chest, and he did the only thing he could think to do. He made moves to get the hell out of there.

“Alright men, shows over,” he barked. “Let's get back to work.”

Elof and Gareth turned immediately heading up the path back towards Meridian. Erend waited just long enough to see that Brant was detaching himself before turning to go himself, not looking to Aloy.

Erend knew it wouldn't be that easy, the moment he heard her hurried footsteps as she climbed the hill to reach him.

“Erend, wait,” she pleaded, her hand was extended for his arm, but when he pivoted, bringing his eyes to hers she seemed to read the expression and drew back. “I'd really like to finish our talk.”

The other Vanguard were carrying on, throwing looks over their shoulders as they went.

“That hardly clarified as a talk “ Erend said, crossing his arms over his chest, on some level enjoying seeing her pull away. “And I've got work to do.”

“I thought we-“

“We what? That everything was suddenly fine?” Erend asked, unable to keep the edge out of his voice, his heart once again beating heavily against the inside of his chest. “Look, now I understand where you were. I get it. I get why you had to go, and why it took so long, and why you couldn't stay and wait for me when you were moving facilities.”

Aloy was staring at him, one hand gripping the spear, the other fidgeting endlessly with her hair.

“What I don't get is how in two years, not once could you have gotten a message to me,” he growled. “You can call your spear from home, show the King images from nothing, but you couldn't send me a letter? Left me a message when you came through?”

She opened her mouth this time, then closed it again, she shook her head. She didn't have an answer for this. There wasn't one.

“I get it. Rebuilding GAIA was the top priority,” Erend said, his arms dropping to his sides, fingers folding into tight fists. “But you could have made me some level of priority. Kept me in the loop… you know there were times I wondered if you were even still alive?”

“Oh, Erend…” Aloy unfolded from herself, stepping forward, that same look of pity in her eyes he remembered from the first night they'd seen each other in the market.

The angry reaction was more subtle this time, but rang with the same tones.

“Don't. Just don't,” he said, backing away from her extended arms. “I have to go.”

Erend turned, and left her there, standing among the dry grass, along the rocky path from Meridian into the West.

—————-

_‘Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?’_

Aloy was bent over the work table hours later, eying the now complete first prototype of the hover board concept she'd been working on with GAIA.

“Very,” Aloy answered, activating the board so that it hovered a couple feet off of the surface of the table. “I’d much rather talk about this, the thing we are actually working on.”

The magnetic shoe accessories for it were due to come out of the fabricator any minute, and Aloy could think of nothing more she wanted than a good distraction in the form of testing this contraption.

It had already felt like a day and a half, and though she was tired, the idea of trying to sleep didn't seem like a welcome one. She still felt as shattered as she'd felt watching Erend walk away from her on the trail.

He was right, of course. Aloy could have done better. Instead she'd cut him off because it was easier for her, never thinking what it might do to him.

What it had now done to him.

_‘Fabrication cycle 100%.’_

Aloy came back to herself in time to see the robotic arm releasing the pair of clamp on shoe additions on top of the work table.

“Alright, let's see if this works,” she said, scooping them up. She sank onto the stool and buckled the two thick soles containing magnets onto the bottom of her boots.

_‘Please be careful.’_

Aloy called the board down to her feet, and tentatively stepped on. She had to grip the edge of the work table to get both feet onto it, she felt the magnets click into place, holding her feet onto the board.

Slowly she straightened up, letting go of the table. She wobbled, sending the board zig zagging through the center of the shop. She bent from one side to the other trying to control it, and collided at a slow speed with the glass doors to the combat simulator.

She was laughing, as she stepped off the board, leaning against the glass.

“Okay, I'm not sure we can do this inside,” she said, catching her breath.

_‘Perhaps a field test would be more appropriate.’_

Aloy scooped up the board, the repulsors quieting as she tucked it under her arm. “That sounds like an excellent idea,” she said. “Where did you have in mind?”

—————-

Erend felt guilty the moment his backside met with the stool at the bar. The part of him that was rational told him to get the hell up and leave again, but that voice in the back, that itch in his throat, it had control.

The bartender made no comment as to the fact he hadn't been there in a week. He just poured the tankard and delivered it before turning back away.

“Here they were just telling me you don't come here anymore,” a voice said to his right. “And yet here you are.”

He turned his head just enough to confirm, then he greeted her by name. “Talanah.”

She’s sitting three stools down, done up in the same intricate Carja armor she was always wearing. “Erend,” she greets, rising like a glittering bird to move down and take instead the seat directly next to him.

Erend let out a long sigh, and took a deep drink from the tankard. “What do you want that you're here looking for me?” he asked, before taking another sip, nearly emptying the thing.

“Thirsty?” she asked in a playful voice.

Instead of answering, he glares at her and takes down the last bit, sliding it away from himself before calling for another.

“Alright, so you're not in a chatty mood,” Talanah said. She’s sitting on the stool facing him, her legs crossed, her elbow resting on the bar, her lips pursed above the twisted chinstrap that holds on her headpiece. “I'll get to the point then.”

“Please do.” A fresh tankard is in his fingers, and he doesn't even look at her, he closed his eyes and pressed the cup to his lips.

“Word is that Aloy’s back in town,” Talanah said.

Erend sprayed a good portion of beer over the bar. She leaned back from this, laughing as he sputtered. She had the decency to let him pull himself together before proceeding.

“Figured if anyone might know where to find her, it’d be you,” she said.

Well, she wasn't wrong, he thought, as he resumed drinking from his tankard. He took a long drink, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“She bought that old blacksmith’s shop on the West side,” he answered, hoping she might take her information and leave. “She's living in the apartment upstairs and tinkering in the shop downstairs.”

Talanah didn't say anything. She just stared. Erend drank until he couldn't bear her eyes on him any longer.

“What?!” he growled.

“Just… she's back then what the hell are you doing HERE?” she asked.

“It's complicated,” he mumbled, returning to his nearly empty once more drink.

“I'm sure, but all the best things are,” Talanah said. “That's fine though, you got your filthy Oseram claws in her way early in all that, time to give the rest of us a chance.”

Erend snorted. He tried to come up with a witty response but she’d already stood up. She bid him farewell and was gone in a flash of silk and scaled armor.

Leaving Erend alone at the bar with his thoughts and his drink.

—————-

The Alight was, as predicted, deserted as Aloy stepped out into the giant circular sun mosaic at the center. She let the board drop from under her arm and it came to hover at mounting height next to her.

On the walk up GAIA had been showing her videos of people doing something known as surfing. It was a ridiculous concept when explained, but beautiful in practice. She'd watched people standing on long glistening boards, riding waves of water in the ocean.

It looked terrifying and graceful all at once.

“Alright, here goes nothing,” Aloy said, stepping up on the board, one foot then the other. She extended her arms on either side of her, balancing, bending her knees slightly as she’d seen in the video.

She wobbled from side to side for a minute, drifting across the circle, the Spire glistening above her in the night sky. Slowly, she got the hang of it, doing wide figure eights around the open space.

_‘Excellent. Now let's talk about gaining altitude.’_

This was even trickier, all about the lean of her body one way for up one for down. Different for left and right. Her calves were starting to feel the strains as she did slow rises and falls over the battlement walls.

“Exactly how high can I go?” Aloy asked.

_‘How high would you like to go?’_

Aloy looked up to the Spire, bending at the waist to turn back and fly towards it, leaning back to gain height. She flew around it, in slow spirals higher and higher until she reached the top.

She let out the air in her lungs in a long “whoop” as she then dove down in a curved controlled dive out down towards the mesa. She pulled up, soaring over the trees and then out over the valley itself.

The Alight fell away below her, the wind whipping her hair behind her like streamers as she flew.

_‘Your heart rate is elevated.’_

Aloy laughed. “Can't imagine why,” she breathed, then she did another dive all worries from earlier forgotten for the moment as she soared over the Maizelands and then out above the dense trees to the East.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am almost sorry. 
> 
> And you guys were so excited about the hug. And I knew I was about to just rain all over it. 
> 
> Almost sorry. 
> 
> Thanks for still reading. :-)


	16. I Feel Like a Kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Editing may be rough. Hopefully not too bad but wanted to get it posted.

Erend awoke face down in the middle of the woven rug that adorned the middle of his bedroom. He had no recollection of how he got there, but the pounding in his head gave him a couple of ideas.

He was still fully armored, the round belly plate uncomfortable beneath him. Slowly, groggily he rolled himself over onto his back. There was light coming through the windows, his mind was slowly trying to grind into motion, determine the time.

Why hadn't Gareth come and roused him? He had been there the night before. Erend recalls through the foggy haze of drunken memory. Had carried him to his doorstep.

It wasn’t until Erend pushed himself up so that he was sitting that he remembered what day it was. The first day of his weekend. Gareth hadn’t roused him because he was off duty. Relief seeped through him at this realization, he was half tempted to slump back on the floor, but his bed was so close.

So close. Unfortunately the room seemed to swing and lurch as he heaved himself to his feet. Either a week without a drink had turned him into a lightweight, or he had drank a lot the night before.

He took two steps towards the bed before realizing that was the wrong destination. He nearly didn’t make it, stumbling into the washroom and falling to his knees in front of the commode.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d vomited after a night of drinking. His body had become so used to alcohol consumption that usually his stomach could handle everything.

Not this morning, that much was clear as he heaved the remaining contents of his stomach back up into the toilet.

Idiot. You stupid idiot.

Soon it was nothing but dry heaves, the muscles in his sides aching beneath his armor from the effort of it all. He let his arm rest on the edge of the commode and pressed his clammy forehead against the cotton sleeve of his shirt.

One week of sobriety down the tubes. He sat like this for a long while, taking long slow breaths. Once he was sure he was done throwing up, he used the edge of the wash basin to stand, then splashed a fair amount of water on his face.

He felt oddly shaky as he finally shed his armor, as if his body just didn’t know what to do at this stage. It was already struggling with withdrawal from not getting the alcohol it was used to, now it had possibly gotten too much.

The sun was up but he stripped down to his undershorts and flopped into the bed. He had nowhere to be, what was the point of being conscious anyway?

Erend pulled the silk sheets over his head, blocking some of the light from the windows, and tried not to think about her. Unfortunately, once he closed his eyes she was all he saw.

He thought about their hug. For a couple shining minutes, he’d held her in his arms and it felt… right. He almost hated how right it felt.

Rolling over, he buried his face into a pillow, wishing it was her hair.

What the hell was he even doing? He wasn’t sure he knew, and he wasn’t sure how to figure it out.

—————-

“See here, look at the stance, see how wide it is,” Aloy said.

She was sitting at the console in her workshop, perched on the stool sipping tea and watching the surfing videos GAIA had shown her.

_‘I see, the current model places your feet too close together.’_

“Not too close to balance, but I think that it'll become more fluid if we widen it,” Aloy agreed.

The plans were already up on the screen, GAIA was modifying them in live time before her eyes. This was always fun to watch, Aloy leaned an elbow on the desk top, drinking her tea and watching. They'd already added bar grips to either side for hanging and handling purposes, and Aloy had a number of other modifications in mind for the next version of her hover board.

_‘Fabrication cycle 100% on your new bow.’_

Aloy sat down her tea, having nearly forgotten what the fabricator had been humming away making. This was something completely of GAIA’s design, so she wasn't quite sure what to expect when the servo arm fetched the item and placed it gingerly onto the adjacent work table.

Aloy stood over it, looking down at what appeared to be just the handle of the bow, the curved limbs made of painted metal, a matte white color, but the grip was made of a soft blue rubbery material.

“I suppose I'm meant to string this myself?” she asked curiously, picking it up. The weapon had a fair amount of weight to it, but being all metal she honestly expected it to be too heavy. This didn't turn out to be the case.

_‘No string. And no actual arrows.’_

“So it’s not a bow,” she said, thoroughly confused, her fingers fit comfortably around the soft grip, and as she situated it she noticed the button very near her thumb and depressed it. This brought up a small menu of options for the spear to adjust power level. She noticed a ‘stun’ option on the list.

_‘Think about how you shoot a bow in the combat simulator.’_

Aloy blinked, she held the bow as she would a normal one and reached for where the string usually would be. She pulled back on the imaginary string with two fingers, and suddenly the weapon seemed to wake up, as if from nowhere an arrow that appeared to be made of light formed, notched between her fingers.

“Woah,” Aloy said accidentally letting it fly, it hit to the right of her front door leaving a scorch mark in the wall.

“Alright, alright, I should have knocked!”

Standing one step through the ajar door, just a few inches from where the hit had landed, was Talanah. She was dressed much as Aloy remembered, with the diamond shaped armor on her arms, exposed midriff, and sash of featherlike metal plates.

“Talanah,” Aloy manages. She set down the bow back on the work table. “Sorry about that, misfire.”

Talanah had her hands raised in mock surrender, a quirked grin on her painted lips. “So then may I come in to your,” she paused, looking around. “I'm sorry I'm not actually sure what this is.”

Aloy laughed, realizing how bizarre the devices all around them must look to someone not used to them. “It's my workshop, I suppose,” she said, waving to indicate Talanah was welcome to come fully inside. Which the Sun Hawk did, closing the door behind her.

It was then that she set to looking Aloy properly over, her eyes lingering on the lengthy hair, and the unusual clothing. Aloy hadn't bothered to get dressed in Carja silks, and was instead wearing a top and pants from the facility.

“You look good,” Talanah said, coming closer. “You’re hair looks nice this long.”

“Thanks, gets in the way sometimes though,” Aloy said.

Talanah resumed looking around the room, drifting back away from where Aloy stood, eying the three monitors. “When Erend said you were tinkering in here, I had no idea what to expect,” she said, turning her back to the console.

Aloy’s throat went dry. “Oh, you talked to Erend?” She tried her best to make this question seem to be frivolous, but could tell immediately she had failed.

Talanah crossed her arms over herself, and cocked her head. “What is with the two of you?” she asked.

GAIA suddenly appeared in three dimensions, projecting from the hologram disc set atop the work table where Aloy had left it last.

_‘You ask a complicated question.’_

The Sun Hawk nearly fell backwards over Aloy’s rolling stool, her eyes wide, her eyebrows arching so high they disappeared beneath her headdress made of machine parts.

“GAIA, we need to discus preparing people before you do that,” Aloy said, unable to keep the mirth from her voice.

_‘Apologies.’_

“Talanah, this is GAIA. She runs the network that the Spire and all the machines are on,” Aloy said. “GAIA this is Talanah, the Sun Hawk of the Meridian Hunter’s Lodge and an old friend.”

Talanah was speechless, she made some sort of nod but had come up to Aloy’s back, standing half behind her to look at the violet tinted AI over her friend’s shoulder.

_‘A pleasure to meet you. What brings you by to visit today?’_

Aloy was amused to see GAIA do this to another unexpected house guest.

“Truthfully, I just wanted to see Aloy, it's… been a long time,” Talanah said. A hand came down on Aloy’s shoulder, turning her and soon she was being hugged for the second time in as many days. “I'm glad you're back. Let's catch up sometime, come by the Lodge.” She said this in a half whisper.

“I'll swing by sometime,” Aloy said, her cheek against Talanah’s surprisingly cold ear.

The Sun Hawk detached herself from this hug, ignoring GAIA’s holographic form as it watched on, and gave Aloy’s shoulder a squeeze. “Looking forward to it,” she said, winking.

Then she was gone, before Aloy had a chance to say a proper goodbye. Both she and GAIA gazed at the now closed door in a surprised silence.

“Remind me we should do something in regards to door security,” Aloy said, shaking her hair and sliding onto her stool at the main console. “First Erend, then Talanah. Next time could be someone significantly less welcome. Let's put a lid on it.”

_‘I agree with this, it was an oversight on my part. I'll get right on it.’_

Aloy nodded, and picked up her cup to take a sip of her now cold tea before adding. “And thanks. For deflecting the Erend question.”

_‘Truthfully I could not have answered her inquiry if I had wanted to.’_

Shaking her head, Aloy let out a long sigh. “Neither could I.”

—————-

Erend had been lying awake a while before the knock came on his front door. Based on the sun through the window it was late afternoon, meaning he had slept a good portion of the day.

Still he might have lied there even longer, even with his stomach rumbling from hunger. But the knock came again, giving him little choice but to swing his legs out of bed.

He pulled on just pants, and padded bare foot, and bare chested, down the steps to answer the door.

“Are you only just getting out of bed?” Gareth asked, as he sidled in. He was in full uniform, and Erend scratched his head, wondering if he’d been wrong about what day it was.

“Maybe,” he answered. “Sleeping it off.”

Erend felt better after all the sleep, but his head still had an ache to it. He went and sank down in one of the dining room chairs. Gareth plunked two wrapped sandwiches from their usual deli onto the table and then went and got them both cups of water.

“Well I hope you were successful,” he said as he returned, sitting across the table from Erend. “Because a couple of Marad’s scouts came back and we finally have a location on that bandit camp.”

Mid way through unwrapping his sandwich, Erend looked up. “So back on duty,” he said. “I suppose they want to go tomorrow night.”

“Nailed it in one,” Gareth answered, already having fully unwrapped his sandwich. “Planning meeting is in a couple hours.”

“So much for the weekend,” Erend said, descending on the food as he realized just how hungry he was.

They ate for a bit in silence, the only sound the crinkling of the paper wrapping from the deli. Erend was somehow feeling better with every bite, clearly he should have put something in his stomach sooner.

“I'm actually relieved in a way,” Erend said. “First, we've been after this camp for what, a month? Second, because you saw what my first night off turned into.”

Gareth considered him for a moment, chewing and swallowing a bite of sandwich before speaking. “Oh is that why it happened?” he said. “Nothing to do with seeing her?”

Erend groaned, then instead of answering kept eating, devouring the last bits of his food.

“I talked to Brant before I got to the bar last night,” Gareth said, crumpling up his paper with Erend's and tossing it from the table into the bin in the corner.

“Oh?”

Gareth narrowed his eyes, leaning forward over the table. “I coulda forced this out of you last night you know,” he said.

Erend knew this was likely true. He hardly remembered the walk home the night before, and could have confessed any number of things and not remembered doing so.

“There's not much to tell,” he said. “We spoke briefly, and she hugged me. Then Brant showed up and we had to go deal with a Sawtooth.” He sipped his water, knowing full well this summation was not going to fly.

“And then you spoke again and I had to drag you from the bar after the bartender cut you off and you refused to leave,” Gareth said, eyes not wavering from Erend’s face. “So what happened?”

Erend stood up, his chair sliding back from the table. “I remembered,” he said. “You saw what she’s capable of. And yet I remembered two years of being in the dark.” He held up two fingers as if this needed some form of illustration.

Gareth let out a long sigh. “Go suit up,” he said. “I've got a couple others I have to go gather.”

Letting his hand fall, Erend’s shoulders sagged slightly as he nodded and made his way towards the stairs. Gareth rose as well, and was very nearly at the door before he paused.

“How long are you going to stay mad at her?” Gareth asked.

Erend was half way up the stairs, and was tempted to keep climbing on up. “Maybe if she’d actually apologize. Admit she -“

“Have you given her the chance?” Gareth asks, cutting him off. “You owe it to both of you to give her the chance to apologize. And to apologize yourself.”

Erend was back down the stairs, but Gareth stopped him with a kind hand on the shoulder. “For acting out of hurt that she caused. It's only right.”

They stood there, staring each other down, Erend's clenched hands loosening at his sides. “Let's just deal with this after we deal with the bandit camp,” he said.

“That sounds like a fair bargain,” Garett said.

Then he left Erend to his thoughts.

—————-

The sun was setting outside the windows of the workshop as Aloy ate Brunswick stew at the console. She couldn't help but remember fondly nights of doing this at the facility.

Spinning before her was the schematic for the new board but she wasn't particularly looking at it. Her mind was adrift thinking as it unfortunately often did of Erend. He'd clearly told Talanah where to find her.

It wasn't that Aloy minded, it would be nice to catch up with Talanah. But if she was honest the only person she really wanted to catch up with was the Vanguard Captain himself.

She couldn't help but wonder if they had been able to continue their quiet talk on the Sun Palace terrace if more progress could have been made. She wanted to open up to him, it just seemed that things always stood in the way.

The Erend she left behind was open, and honest with her always. They’d communicated with a flow that had been easy and natural from just about the moment they met. The Erend she had returned to was closed off, guarded. She’d seen the briefest glowing moment of that spark when they hugged on the terrace before he’d locked it back away.

It was there though, she knew that much now. She sat down her now empty bowl, and closed her eyes remembering how he had rubbed her back as he held her, remembering the way he’d leaned his head against hers.

For those minutes, they were back on the same wavelength. It was a glimpse, the tiniest glimpse, but she tried to seize onto it. Somehow, she’d find a way to get through, find a way to connect.

Even if for the moment, the best route to get there was to stay back and allow him his space. He wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was she.

_‘Query: how was your stew?’_

Aloy snapped out of her reverie, opening her eyes to find GAIA gazing out at her from the center monitor in place of the schematic. She gave the AI a tired smile.

“I’m doing okay, I promise,” she said, skipping the usual formalities. “I’m not giving up on him yet.”

_‘Good, I don’t think you should either.’_

Rising from the stool, Aloy yawned and stretched. “Glad we’re on the same page,” she said. “Now, I’m going to bed, were you planning on initiating fabrication tonight?”

_‘As soon as you tuck in. Fabrication time eighteen point five hours.’_

Aloy was already to the bottom of the stairs. “Here’s hoping tomorrow has nice weather for a field test,” she said, as she climbed towards the respite of her apartment, and the warm comfort of her bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It finally happened. Actual NaNoWriMo writer's block. 
> 
> Took two days to squeeze out this chapter and then I finished it so late last night I couldn't sacrifice the sleep to edit and post it. 
> 
> Just had a bad moment with the whole thing a couple days ago but I'm alright. It's Friday hopefully the weekend will eat the flow back right. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and a special thanks to my commenters. I need to answer last chapters comments and will but wanted to get this up in the little time I had this morning to do so.


	17. Too Shy to Speak Up so I Keep it Hid

It's early afternoon, which means the street in front of Aloy’s workshop is busy, people passing going both ways going about their days. Aloy tried very hard to block out the sound of them as she connects a panel next to her front door.

She never realized how much she relied upon quiet to concentrate when wiring electronics, it was taking twice as long as it should have. It was with relief that she made the last connection, fitting the small screen into place. It lit up, progress bar appearing as GAIA loaded its software.

While she waits, Aloy tucked the soldering iron under her arm, then reached up to slide the tinted goggles up off of her eyes. She left them clinging along her hairline like a headband.

“What are you doing?”

Aloy had been tuning out the voices of the people behind her, but this one came from right at the foot of the stairs. She turned to see Gareth standing, one foot up on the bottom step, head tilted looking at the panel.

_‘Install and diagnostics complete. Should be fully functional.’_

Ignoring this, Aloy straightened up. “Gareth, good to see you,” she greeted, smiling. He was in full Vanguard uniform as he always seemed to be, helmet tucked up under one arm, his wavy hair slightly unruly. “Actually, I was just installing a thing you could help me test. If you don't mind..”

“Test?” Gareth made to climb the stairs but she stopped him.

“Hold on, let me go in, then you come up and knock,” she said, then without answering the inquisitive look, or giving him time to question it, she pivoted on the spot

Aloy kicked the door closed behind her, and practically ran the length of the shop, depositing the soldering iron on the work table as she went. The wheels of the stool squeaked as she sat down and slid up to the console. Paused on the screen was another of the surfing videos, she'd been watching them while waiting fabrication on her new board to be complete.

Then, blinking in the corner of the screen, a square popped up with bold wording that read ‘DOOR PROXIMITY ALERT’. She could see Gareth in the little square, and reached out and pressed to expand the window.

“Gareth, can you see me?” She waved, and he looked down finally, blinking. Hair fell in his face as he hunched down.

“Yeah I see you,” he said. “And you can see me?”

“I can yes,” she said, smiling. “And if I press this”. She reached and pressed the admit button. She could hear the door pop open behind her. “It will let you in.”

Perfect, Aloy thought, as she spun the stool and stood to meet Gareth as he walked in through the now open door. As he stepped clear, it closed automatically as a servo now attached to the top right gave a small kick to swing it shut.

Gareth’s eyes were wide, as he took in the full contents of the workshop. Staring particularly hard at the fabricator as it buzzed and whirred away behind tinted plexiglass partitions.

“Thanks, much easier than trying to test it alone,” Aloy said, bringing his attention back to her. “What brings you by?”

“Actually, I was only passing on my way somewhere,” he admitted with a chuckle. “And I saw you doing something with sparks and stopped. Didn't realize you were a Tinker.”

Aloy remembered from what seemed a lifetime ago that Tinker was an Oseram label for a person who builds or invents. She imagined it was the closest word in any of the tribe’s vernaculars to describe what she did with most of her time. She tinkered.

“Well then lucky timing for me,” she said, with a shrug. Then even though she told herself not to she asked. “How’s Erend doing?”

The look of Gareth gave her expressed how completely unsurprised he was at the inquiry. “He's doing okay,” he said. “As messy and stubborn as ever. I actually just left him, we are prepping for a night op.”

Aloy tilted her head, allowing some of her hair to slide over her shoulder as she considered this. “A night op?” she asked.

“Oh, a night time operation,” he said. “Basically there's a bandit camp, they've been interfering with trade routes. We’re going to surprise them in the wee hours.”

The mere thought of bandit camps reminded Aloy of a life that hardly felt like it was hers years before. “Well, you boys stay safe,” she said. “You can tell him I asked about him.”

Gareth tongued the inside of his cheek, and adjusted his grip on his helmet. “I might,” he said. “Though I've already been working on him plenty.”

Aloy let out a nervous laugh. “I'm afraid to even ask,” she said. She went to her stool and let herself sink down on it. “He’s made some valid points. I did leave and aside from one failed attempt never contacted him.”

“But you're here now,” Gareth said. “And you want to fix it, don't you?”

Aloy popped her shoulders back, rising from her seat though she had just sat. “Of course I do,” she said. “If he’d just talk to me.”

Silence fell for a couple beats aside from the buzz and whir of the fabricator. “As I said, I've been working on it,” Gareth said. “Anyway, I have to jet. I'm going to have to come back for an explanation on all this.” He gestured around the shop and they both laughed.

After he’d gone, Aloy settled back at the console, she was about to hit play on her surfing video when GAIA spoke for the first time in what felt like a long time.

_‘Aloy, I was wondering if I could ask you something, and I know it isn't an easy question, but I want to understand.’_

Aloy let out a long sigh, knowing that attempting to refuse might be immensely counterproductive. “You may,” she managed. GAIA popped onto the right hand monitor, her kind eyes fixed upon Aloy.

_‘Why didn't you visit? It was months before you even had my basic software booted. Why didn't you go?’_

Straight to the messy guts of the problem in one query, GAIA was as always efficient. Aloy let her elbows come down on the desk top, pressing her forehead into her own palms.

—————-

It had been a busy twenty four hours for Erend. Between planning meetings, preparation checks, and other such duties he hadn't had hardly any time to sit still, let alone drink.

He'd slept like a rock in the few hours he'd been allowed after he and Gareth had split up once completing the final checks before rendezvous.

Between everything it had left him with an hour to kill before go time. He tried to simply wait it out in his apartment, but it was like there was an itch that needed scratching. He kept repeating Gareth’s words to him. About being willing to talk, to open up.

So though he'd left thinking he'd go see if his fellow Vanguard was up and ready, his feet somehow carried him instead to the West side. He realized about a block away, halting so suddenly that a Carja woman clinging to a young boy's hand ran right into his back.

“Hey, watch it,” she hissed, as she tugged her child past.

Erend took a deep breath, and ran a gloved hand down the wide stripe of hair that ran down his head. He could see the front door to her place, he was already this far.

With each step his knees felt a little bit more like jelly, and his armor somehow felt heavier. Still he made the walk, climbed her front steps, and knocked on the door. There was a new electronic device of some kind mounted next to it now. It flashed green and the door popped open.

He wondered if he'd ever get used to all her gadgets.

Erend’s eyes roved the shop as he stepped inside. The stool at the console was empty. The strange glass room to the left he didn't even know the purpose of was also empty. And the huge contraption across from it was quiet.

_‘Good evening Erend. Aloy is unfortunately out at the moment on a field test.’_

A strange mixture of disappointment and relief flooded Erend. He was about to turn to leave when the disc that sat alongside the bank of monitors flickered into life and the top half of GAIA appeared.

_‘Would you like me to call her back?’_

“No!” Erend answered a little too hastily, taking a couple steps towards the console. “That's not necessary.” He took a deep breath and let the purple tinted projection of a woman examine him. “Truth is I don't even know what I'm here to say so…”

He scratched the hair along his jawline, and looked around the room for an excuse to break eye contact.

_‘Perhaps I could help.’_

Erend couldn't imagine how anyone could help, let alone this… thing. He wasn't even sure he understood what GAIA was, a woman who existed only within machines.

“How, exactly, might you do that?” he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

_‘Sit.’_

Against his better judgement, Erend did so, unhitching his weapon from his back and leaning it head down with the handle propped on the edge of the desk. The screens had been dark, but they all lit up before him. To his left was GAIA, in his peripheral he noticed the hologram version of her fade away. In the center was an image of what appeared to be the sky. And to the right was an image of Aloy sitting at the very console he was sitting at.

Erend's eyes were drawn to this screen. She was wearing her intricate armor she'd been wearing the night she'd arrived. Her long hair was draped across her shoulder like a scarf, held back at the top by a pair of goggles.

_‘We’ll get to that one.’_

Blinking, Erend turned back to the center monitor as the sky was moving slightly and now there were voices.

_‘He’s scared, Aloy.’_

He swallowed hard, fuck yes he was. Terrified even.

“Well, he can join the club.”

Erend nearly choked himself with the sharp intake of breath. It had never occurred to him she could be, she had never shown fear as long as he'd known her.

_‘What is it you are scared of?’_

If Aloy knew he was watching this, something told him GAIA would be in a great deal of trouble. But he clung to every word, scooting the stool closer, staring intensely at the image of the sky wondering where she was.

“I guess, I'm most scared that he's right.” Aloy’s voice sounds sad and Erend’s chest begins to feel tight. “That the Erend I knew is really gone, and that in the end the only one to blame for that is me.”

Suddenly the image on the screen swung wildly, and the Spire swam into view. She had been lying on her back on a wall up on the Alight. He almost laughed, he's done so himself before.

“Because that Erend… he was amazing. He was funny, and brave. Loyal, and honest. He never hesitated to help me, and he was there at the end. I can't even say for sure I could have defeated Hades without him.”

There's such affection in her voice, Erend feels the sting of tears and he rubs at his eyes momentarily to stem them. When he looks back she's walking across the Alight in silence, and ends up out on the outcropping he remembered so clearly though he hadn't stepped foot on it in years.

The playback stopped here. GAIA was watching him from the left hand monitor, and she waited for him to pull himself together before proceeding.

_‘That was when we first arrived. This was today.’_

The Aloy in the right hand screen sprung to life, sliding the stool as she looked from one screen to another, then GAIA requested permission to ask a question that wouldn't be ‘easy’.

Erend leaned in watching Aloy, she tensed, freezing before allowing GAIA to proceed.

_‘Why didn't you visit? It was months before you even had my basic software booted. Why didn't you go?’_

There it was. The question that was the thorn that kept flaring in Erend’s side. He had to remind himself to breath as he watched Aloy hide her face in her hands for what felt like an eternity.

When she brought her face back up, it was with a look of stony sadness. She slid the goggles off of her head, setting them down onto the desk top before speaking finally.

“About two months in, I almost went,” Aloy said, adjusting on the stool, reaching around behind her neck to scoop the entirety of her hair over her shoulder to her front, where her fingers set to raking through it. “But the night before I had said I would leave I dreamt about saying goodbye. Just over and over. The goodbyes. All of them. We'd already had a fair few. My heart hurt when I awoke.”

_‘So you didn't go.’_

Aloy shook her head, biting her lip. “That was the beginning of a cycle. The longer I was gone, the more sure I was he would be cross upon my return. And even if he wasn't the goodbye would be all the more torturous.”

Erend was practically clinging to the desk now, reminding himself to breath. He wanted to reach through the screen and touch her, she looked deflated, sad.

“There were a few times I had intended to go and chickened out. Told myself it would be easier to just wait till it was over. That I was sparing us both the pain of the goodbyes.”

_‘But that didn't turn out to be the case.’_

“Of course not. Instead I caused him the more pain that I could have imagined. And honestly, it wasn't exactly painless for me all those months either.”

Aloy was starting to sound impatient, so he wasn't surprised when the recording cut off as Aloy changed the subject to something about a board he didn't quite catch.

Erend cleared his throat, releasing the grip he had on the edge of the desk. She'd been trying to spare them both and instead torn them apart.

_‘Are you sure you do not wish for me to call her back?’_

Shaking his head, Erend forced himself to speak. “I actually have to go,” he managed. “I wish I could wait but…”

GAIA is staring unblinkingly at him from the left hand monitor.

_‘I'd prefer if this conversation remained between us.’_

Erend stood. “Believe me I would prefer that also,” he said. “Thank you. It was illuminating. I'll be back.”

He went to leave, and was nearly to the door when he paused to add. “You can tell her that if you want. That I stopped by, and that I'll try again later. I mean, not tonight, I have to go deal with some bandits, but soon.”

To stop himself rambling he actually opened the door, the flickering glow of a lamp outside shining through.

_‘I’ll let her know. Take care, Captain.’_

Erend evacuated the workshop after that, closing the door behind him.

—————-

Aloy was soaring over the lush tropical forests to the South of Meridian and the Alight, the strumming of guitar and steady beat of drums in her ear. She had been so right about widening the stance on the board.

Now she steered with ease, the board moving with her an extension as opposed to a wild device to be tamed.

“Close your eyes girl. Look inside girl. Let the sound take you awaaaaaay,” the voice sings in her ear as she finds herself rising and falling, maneuvering in time with the music.

Her heart beat against her ribs, the wind whipping through her hair, she extended her arms on either side of her, turning into a curve.

_‘There's a Rogue Snapmaw not too far from you. It's in a scuffle with two overridden machines of the same type, could let them take care of it, or-‘_

“I could test out my bow,” Aloy said, excitedly, unshouldering the weapon, fitting her fingers into the soft blue grip.

_‘Route is mapped.’_

The Focus interface popped up, and she turned to get on course.

_‘By the way, Erend stopped by.’_

Aloy nearly dropped the bow, fumbling with it for a moment before fastening it back in place. The hover board had slowed to a crawl, the carpet of large green leaves below her creeping along.

“When? Why? Did you speak to him? How did he seem?”

Questions rolled out of Aloy’s mouth as she resumed her forward momentum with a lean, her hands now on her hips, her heart rate no longer just to be blamed on the flight.

_‘Just now. He didn't say. Briefly. And he seemed like a man who very much wanted to speak with you. In fact he said he'd try again.’_

“That's good right?” Aloy asked. “You should have told me I would have flown back!” Of course he'd come while she was out. As usual the universe seemed to ensure that their timing remained out of sync.

_‘I think it's very good. And unfortunately he couldn't wait.’_

“Oh right, the night op,” Aloy said, remembering.

_‘So you'll have to wait and see. Might as well get back to that Snapmaw.’_

Aloy laughed, speeding up ever more so that the greenery below was a blur , her knees bent as she rode the wind towards her destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you see GAIA is expanding her meddling. It's very nearly forgivable here though if/when Aloy finds out she's gonna be maaaaaad regardless of results. 
> 
> Still rolling a little slow at the moment, but I'm pressing on. Thanks so much for the comments and support. Y'all rock.


	18. Oh, Butterflies

To say his conversation with GAIA was in the back of his mind as Erend gathered with his men at rendezvous would have been an understatement. He was walking the line ensuring everyone was in uniform, properly armed, ready for the mission. But his mind was on Aloy, on the words she’d said to GAIA about him.

It had been a glimpse he had not been expecting, and now there was an ache in his chest. He wanted to be anywhere other than about to be going out with the Vanguard. He wanted to be sitting on her stoop waiting for her to come home from whatever it was she was doing. By the time he was done tonight it would be far too late to be stopping by. No, it would all have to wait for another day.

They both should be pretty used to waiting at this point, Erend thought ruefully as he jammed his helmet on over his head.

“You alright, Cap?” Gareth was at his shoulder, and the time to depart was upon them.

The Vanguard going on tonight’s adventure were gathered at the Western gate at the foot of the mesa. From there they would turn South and travel through the forests to their destination.

The truth was, he wasn't alright. Not by a long shot. He was sober and aching with the thirst of wishing he wasn't. He was torn up about Aloy, even more so than before his visit with the insightful GAIA. And to cap that off he was heading out in the night instead of tackling any of that head on.

He doesn't answer Gareth immediately. The men were trickling out, and the Captain would be at the rear so he waited until they could talk with some semblance of privacy.

“I stopped by Aloy’s before we met up,” Erend said. “She wasn't home.”

Gareth clearly hadn't been expecting this, nearly tripping over a root that had grown across the trail they were following. “Poor timing,” he said, shaking his head.

“Story of my life,” Erend returned with a sigh, before they lapsed back into silence.

The journey wasn't exactly short, they spent a couple hours trekking on foot, first on a trail then forging their own. It unfortunately gave Erend a bit too much time with his thoughts.

How could they both be so scared? He wondered. He'd always viewed Aloy as if she had nerves of steel, fear was not something he had ever associated with her. She'd faced down machines that had him quaking in his boots without breaking a sweat. Yet when asked what she was afraid of it wasn't anything that could cause her physical harm or distress.

No, she feared losing him.

This realization slammed into him like a raging Trampler. He had to remind himself to keep walking as he turned the recorded words over in his mind. Aloy worried she'd lost the Erend she’d been with. And she'd been scared to come back because she feared him rejecting her.

The hero of the world, tamer of machines, and the thing she was scared of was losing an idiot like him. A fool who had been doing the exact thing she'd been so terrified of.

Aloy had returned to Meridian and he had rejected her.

Guilt and regret cloyed at him, twisting his stomach into knots as the party crossed a river and cut further to the East.

Still, she'd stayed. He'd told her there was no point because she'd just leave, so she bought a home. She'd given him his space, and yet stayed within reach.

It took everything in him not to turn right there and return to the city. He could go back to her workshop and have GAIA call her home. He didn't know what he would say exactly, but he'd figure it out. He'd start by telling her he never stopped thinking about her, and he never would. That he was sorry. That he didn't really want to push her away.

He was just scared.

Not that he wasn't still scared, basking in the sudden surety of his feelings. It was different now. He was scared for a whole other slew of reasons now that he didn't have time to begin to count.

Especially as the party ahead was congesting, they were almost there, and their cover was running out.

Erend pulled himself together. He had to shove all that aside for later, there was nothing to be done for it now. Though he couldn't promise he wouldn't be knocking on her door at dawn after a night of work and no sleep.

He’d cross that bridge when he came to it. Right now he had a bandit camp to sack.

—————-

Flying between trees proved to be a bit more of a challenge than flying in open air, Aloy found herself making a wavy path through the forest. She could hear the machines going at it already, the sound of metal on metal and mechanical snarling drifted to her from the water. There was a small lake nestled amid the trees in a clearing up ahead.

“Still only the three machines?” Aloy asked in a quiet voice, bringing up her Focus interface.

_‘I can remove the two additional Snapmaws whenever you’re ready.’_

“Leave them for now, nice distraction.”

Aloy flew quietly around the perimeter of the lake, at a distance away enough that the machines did not detect her presence. Twice she had to duck to keep from running headlong into low hanging branches and was tempted to ditch the board. She had to remind herself that would defeat the purpose of the field test.

After a bit of consideration she decided to come at the situation from the opposite bank of the water, forcing the offending machine to come across to her, and buying her time to cause more damage before it got there.

In theory, of course. She stopped the hover board short, swinging herself behind a fairly large tree trunk to unshoulder her bow. She examined the painted metal casing of it for a moment, before fitting her hand into the rubbery grip.

“Alright, once it starts to advance on me, pull away the two Snapmaws we have in hand,” Aloy said. “I’ll take out the rogue one and we can call some scrappers to carry off the parts.”

_‘An excellent plan, good luck.’_

Aloy swung back around the tree, slowly advancing where she hovered a few feet from the ground, pulling back on the imaginary bow string. The arrow of light and energy appeared. Her target was doing quite a bit of moving about, so it took a moment to aim.

She was trying to hit one of the blaze canisters on the back of its neck, but a particularly hard head butt from one of the friendly machines made her miss. The light arrow pierced the back however, leaving a smoldering gash.

The Snapmaw let out a roar of displeasure, its long tail swung behind it, knocking one of the other machines away as it turned to find the source of the hit.

_‘Well, you’ve successfully gotten it’s attention.’_

“I see that thanks,” Aloy murmured, firing again as the Snapmaw dove back into the lake to swim across to the side she was firing from, she caught the tail as it went knocking off armor.

She backed into the tree line, the bottom of the board brushing the top of the shorter plant life.

_‘Reminder that you can adjust the power of your ammunition.’_

Just as GAIA said this the Snapmaw surfaced out from the water, and as it did so it fired its freeze burst at Aloy. She had only just opened up the menu on the bow and didn’t have time to react.

_‘Deploying shield.’_

A curved bright blue wall appeared before Aloy, it reminded her of Shellwalkers’ shields, and the ice attack collided with it and went no further. This gave her just enough time to crank up the power on her arrows.

The Snapmaw was fully up on the shore now, its body wriggling as Aloy knew it usually did before making a lunge. This was exactly what she wanted, and when it launched itself into the air intent on landing on her, Aloy fired a new stronger light arrow into the sack of chillwater that clung to the underside of the machine’s neck.

That was all it took, one shot, and the freeze sack exploded in an icy blast, throwing the Snapmaw backwards onto its back, very nearly dead.

Aloy was advancing now, turning tightly between the shoreline trees, rising higher as she notched the bow again, this time firing into the creatures head as it attempted to turn itself right up again. She was circling it now, flying low, her knees bent as she very nearly skimmed the surface of the water with the right edge of the board as she mad a wide turn back.

The final shot was to the blaze canisters in the back of the neck that she’d tried hitting initially, and with one final explosion the rogue Snapmaw fell, sinking slightly into the muddy bank of the water.

“Nice timing on the shield,” Aloy said, maneuvering back over land to step off of the hover board.

_‘Your shield-weaver armor would have caught most of it if I hadn’t. I just wanted to test the shield.’_

Aloy chuckled at this, squatting alongside the Snapmaw corpse to loot it for parts. The overridden machines across the lake were returning to the water, paying her absolutely no mind as she foraged. She began tugging out some wiring, coiling it to take with her.

_‘I thought you might be interested to know that I located the bandit camp that the Vanguard are taking out tonight.’_

Frowning, Aloy tossed aside a metal vessel that was a little too damaged for her to want to haul it back to meridian. “I was unaware you were attempting to locate that,” she said in a flat voice, before rising fully to her feet, all interest in searching the fallen Snapmaw having faded.

Against her will a map was coming up on Aloy’s Focus interface, first it showed her location before zooming out a bit, and then following the very stream that flowed off from the lake to her left it showed that not only had GAIA found the bandit camp, but that it was very close to where they already were.

“And look how close it is, how convenient there was a rogue machine out this way to bring me this far,” Aloy said sarcastically. Then she stopped talking, as the scan of the bandit camp actually came up, and she squinted at it. “Is that… is it underground?”

_‘It appears this camp was built on top of underground ruins, the bandits have been living in them, storing ammo and weaponry in them as well.’_

“From the top it looks average,” she said, zooming out and switching to an actual video image taken by one of the Glinthawks that GAIA had clearly sent to scope out the place. “But then there's so much more underneath.”

_‘Like the tip of an iceberg.’_

Aloy, who was still standing on the muddy bank of the lake, her board hovering at calf height next to her waiting. “I have absolutely no idea what that means,” she said. “But I’m afraid it means there’s a good chance Erend and his men might have underestimated what they’re up against.”

_‘That's the concern, yes.’_

“Looks like this field test might turn out to be more intensive than anticipated,” Aloy said. She stepped on the board in a fluid motion, urging it up as she looped the lake, watching the blue glowing Snapmaws swimming as she rose ever higher. “Map the route.”

—————-

“Fuck,” Erend muttered, seeking shelter amid stacks of crates, probably full of stolen goods. Gareth dove in behind him, skittering in the dirt to take cover next to Erend.

“Is it just me, or are there way more bandits here than there should be?” Gareth asked.

He wasn't wrong. It had started as business as usual, they'd flanked the perimeter and come at the settlement from all angles. Erend couldn't speak for the other quadrants but his had turned out to have an unending supply of goons coming from SOMEWHERE.

“Marad’s guys’ intel,” Erend said, shaking his head. “Didn't think we needed to follow up.”

Erend was trying to think, they could fall back, get the hell out. But his men were scattered across the village and there was no way to ensure they would all hear an order of retreat.

“They're all coming from that direction,” Gareth said, peering around the stacks they were covered behind.

There were a few large structures in the settlement, mainly built of wood and hanging cloth at times. But the one Gareth pointed out was different. It was hung with cloths and had wood thrown on like a shell but he saw metal beneath.

His eyes moved to a look out tower built across from this, a mounted canon of Oseram design on it, the gunner was already down but a couple bandits were climbing the structure to take up the helm.

“Think we can get to the canon?” Erend asked. Some sort of explosion sounded nearby, rattling the crates around them. “Try to take down that building they're all coming out of.”

Gareth checked over the stacks again, then nodded. Erend led the way, out around the crates, hands gripping his hammer headed war maul tightly. It wouldn't be long before he needed it.

There was chaos and movement all around them, and before they reached the ladder up the tower two bandits came barreling into their path.

Gareth’s bow had already been drawn tight, he loosed an arrow into the chest of one then kicked them hard backwards to the ground. Erend took out the other with a swing that collided with a thud on the side of the attacking man's face

Erend didn't look back as he shouldered his weapon and began scrambling up the ladder. One rung after another until he was just below the platform, he waited a few moments until he heard a creak very close to the edge.

A bandit was looking out over the back, down the ladder access. His mouth was hidden behind a scarf but his eyes flew wide as Erend reached up and grabbed him, pulling down just enough to unbalance him.

Erend had to move sideways so as not to be knocked free from the ladder by the man's falling body, then he stormed the top, and before the second bandit in the tower could react Erend threw a well placed kick to the chest and out the tower the enemy went.

“I'll load, you fire,” Gareth said, as he crested the top, scrambling up onto the platform. He went immediately to the baskets of ammunition and loaded some in.

Erend aimed at the door most of the bandits, many of which he realized were wearing shadow Carja clothing, were emerging from. He fired the first barrage into the walls above, bringing debris down into the door.

Then he moved to begin laying fire on the roof hoping to set it on fire, but the more wood was knocked or burned away the more obvious it became that this structure was not going to come down so easily. It was of metal and if he wasn't much mistaken looked to be a ruin of the ancient ones.

Gareth was loading the gun again, and when it was ready he turned his fire from the building instead targeting another structure that actually did catch fire.

“Cap,” Gareth was calling his name behind him, but Erend had located what appeared to be arms storage and was firing upon it.

It was when he ran out of shells that he noticed that even in the heat of fights below, people were looking around, some pointing. He watched as a bandit allowed himself to be knocked out because he was staring up at something in the distance. Erend turned now too, something glowing blue was flying ever closer, a bright scar against the dark night sky.

“What the hell is that?” Gareth asked. Then seeming to realize the canon was empty began loading it again, said they might need to fire on whatever it was. Erend knew they wouldn't need to though.

Somehow, Erend knew even before she was close enough that he could see the red of her hair as it streamed out behind her. Somehow he'd known the moment he had seen the blue lights.

It was Aloy, flying atop something that glowed with blue from beneath. Her knees were bent, as if balancing on a rope, one hand gripping a bow of a make he had never seen before. She glided towards them cutting smooth, winding paths through the air.

Then she was in range, he saw her draw the bow and fire something of brilliant light into another guard tower, hitting the canon which exploded. She hardly seemed to register this as she fired another arrow this time into the back of a bandit that was firing down from a roof.

Erend had no idea how she’d done it. How she had found them. How she could have known they needed assistance. How the hell she was FLYING.

But one thing was for sure, he'd never been happier to see her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all I don't even know how this chapter got done tonight. I crossed 50k (the technical finish line for NaNoWriMo) about half way through and actually booted Sims (aka writer's kryptonite). 
> 
> Honestly wasn't gonna finish this tilll tomorrow but hen my phone shuffled to a song and then I was writing again. Sometimes that's all it takes. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and a special thanks to my fab commenters!


	19. You Steal My Sleep Each Night

There was a strange calm that had come over Aloy, as she flew in at top speed to assist the Vanguard. She'd already taken out a guard tower and stun arrowed a few bandits with the higher vantages from the top of roofs, it was chaos on the ground however. She was having trouble telling friend from foe.

GAIA seemed to read her mind, as the Focus interface flashed to life, littered with glowing icons.

_‘Turning on targeting assistance. Targets will be red. Friendly forces, as in the Vanguard, green.’_

“Perfect,” Aloy breathed, she was making a slow low turnaround at the edge of the village, coming back around the perimeter looking to hit the big guns in the guard towers. “Have you got a location on Erend yet?”

Aloy let a light arrow fly, striking a bandit that was attempting to climb one of the guard towers. He fell backwards towards the ground as she cranked the power of her bow up and lit into the canon mounted on top. It exploded, throwing the bandit who had been operating it out of the tower.

_‘Not yet, I will keep you posted.’_

She didn't particularly like this answer, but there wasn't exactly time to express this. Aloy had spotted what appeared to be a handful of Vanguard bound together and guarded. As she approached she watched as another was dragged into the area, which was lined with jagged wooden fencing that angled out, she recognized him. It was Elof, he cursed at the men as he was thrown to the ground.

No one was looking up, and that was fine with Aloy as she drew the invisible bowstring, aiming for the men closest to the gate. She dropped them both in seconds, leaving the two bandits who had dragged Elof in looking around confused.

Then one looked up and pointed just as he was hit, crumpling to the ground. Aloy was circling low above the fencing, and before the remaining guard could even reach for his bow she had felled him too.

She stepped off the board alongside the fence line, stopped to pick up a knife from the hip of the fallen guard, and then set to cutting the seven Vanguard loose.

“Man am I glad to see you,” Elof said, as she cut his wrists free.

“Well, I was in the neighborhood,” Aloy said, as she moved on to the next soldier

Soon they were all standing, shaking out their once bound hands, looking to her. She realized suddenly that they were expecting instructions.

_‘Aloy, you have the holograph disc.’_

It was like a light went off somewhere in Aloy’s brain, she reached to her hip, and fished the projector from one of the pouches there. She pulled up a map of the settlement, it shone blue in the darkness of the night, and the eyes of the Vanguard soldiers on the other side of the image were wide with surprise.

“There are two ways up from the underground bunker, we need to get them under control,” Aloy said, highlighting the two buildings on either end of the bandit camp that were actual the ruins of the Ancients.

_‘Aloy, I've found Erend. He's manning the guard tower here.’_

The tower adjacent to the Easternmost ruin began to flash green. Aloy decided on the spot. “You already have control of this tower here, let's shut this exit down first,” she said. “I'll cover from above, head East and hopefully we can rendezvous with your forces there.”

She deactivated the hologram, and the assortment of men before her were simply staring slack jawed still. Then Elof seemed to come to himself. “You heard the woman, let’s fly!”

The men thundered their feet, scrambling around for their weapons that were piled on the corner of the enclosure. “Actually, that’s my job I think,” Aloy said, unable to help the smirk on her lips as she stepped back onto her board, urging it up. “I'll signal when you should move.”

Aloy flew out over the gate, and was glad she'd told them to hold as a pair of bandits were approaching carrying another Vanguard. Two light arrows later and she let out a whistle to tell the others to advance. She watched from above as Elof freed Brant and he joined them in their march to the East.

_‘They're running low on ammunition in the guard tower.’_

Skimming the top of a low canvas strung roof top, Aloy considered this. “Don't suppose you have a lead on some,” she said, firing into a bandit that was hiding out of sight just inside the next chokehold that the Vanguard were about to storm through.

_‘As a matter of fact I do.’_

—————-

“Looks like she’s coming back this way,” Gareth said at Erend’s shoulder, as Erend fired single rounds down sparingly, attempting to stretch their ammunition. “And she's bringing reinforcements.”

Erend blinked, straightening up from the mounted canon, to look out to the West. On the ground were at least a dozen of his men, coming through like a wave, pushing back any of the bandits who had made it past Erend from the strange facility they were pouring from.

Aloy was soaring above them, firing so fast he couldn't imagine how she had time to aim. Her eyes were on the wretched building across from him, and while the Vanguard branched towards the tower she went the other way, circling it instead.

He wanted to call out to her, instead he drug his eyes from this and began bellowing orders down to his men as they arrived below. Gareth had ground back into motion, loading the last of the shells into the canon.

Then an explosion rocked the ground, the guard tower catty corner across from theirs went up on flames, and now she was flying right towards them. Her hair snaked in the wind behind her, her body silhouetted against the flames of the burning structure she left behind.

Erend had to remind himself to breath, their eyes locking upon one another as she swooped right up to the edge of the platform, and stepped off so that she was standing right there between him and Gareth.

“There you are,” Aloy said breathlessly, as if they'd run across each other on the street instead of the middle of a bandit camp that was now partially on fire. “I was trying to get you more ammo for the canon but that didn't work out.” She was wearing her strange powered armor, flashes of light shielding shone and disappeared along the side of her face as she nodded back to the tower she had just destroyed.

“How did you find us?” Erend's mouth moved though his mind was feeling blurry. She was looking over the empty basket, the few remains shells loaded in the canon.

“GAIA,” she answered, as she continued her survey. “Hey Gareth.”

The board had come to hover above their heads, Erend was distracted enough by this that he hadn't realized she'd returned her attention back to him.

“You okay?”

Erend’s eyes snapped back to hers, and he nodded. “You?”

“So far so good,” she answered, a small smile. It somehow made him more calm. Aloy bent to retrieve something from a pouch and he had to resist the urge to reach out and touch the cascade of hair that ensued down one side of her face. When she straightened up she was holding out the small black round disc she had used in the Palace sitting room.

He took it automatically, and held it on the palm of his hand as she activated it.

GAIA’s voice came through somewhere on the device as what appeared to be a detailed three dimensional map of the very bandit camp he was standing in displayed suspended above his hand.

_‘Hello Erend.’_

“So what’s the plan?” Erend asked this because somehow he knew there was one. He was eying the underground portion he hadn't even fully realized until this moment was there, though it should have been obvious.

“You're not going to like it,” Aloy said.

_‘Aloy is going to go through the underground facility. Stemming the flow from this end. You will take your men and meet with her at the other end.’_

The map was spinning and zooming but Erend had looked away from it to Aloy who had gone to the edge of the platform and fired a couple arrows down into the tussle still happening below. “Through?” he managed to choke out, as the map also showed the flurry of dots that he imagined must be people in this underground maze of rooms.

Aloy returned to his side, shouldering her bow as she came. “I've got the armor and the bow, I'm more worried about this,” she looked down at the map still displayed above his slightly outstretched hand. She showed him along his route to the other end of the settlement was what appeared to be- “Half a dozen of your men, alive but in custody. Free them and meet me at the other end.”

She made to leave, and Erend clicked the blue button on the disc and stepped forward to give it back. “Wait…”

“No, keep it, use it,” she said. The hover board had zoomed down again to the edge of the platform, she stepped onto it and spun on the spot.

“Aloy,” Erend pocketed the disc. “Listen, I'm sorry I've been such an ass.”

The look she gave him sent a shock of electricity through him. Her eyebrows arched playfully, her lips twisted as she attempted to hide a grin. “You? An ass? That doesn't sound like you?” Aloy’s voice rang with both amusement and sarcasm. Some of his earnestness must have shown in his return look, because she went on. “For what it's worth I'm sorry too, but there will be time for this conversation later.”

Aloy hung there in the air just off the platform, her eyes never leaving his. “You never know, is all I'm saying,” he said.

She was two steps back onto the platform before he registered what what happening. Her hands found the goldenrod scarf around his neck, pulling him down, Erend only just had the sense he should close his eyes when her lips, warm and soft, met with his. It went on long enough, their lips locked together moving against one another in a natural rhythm, that he had enough time to slide one hand along the side of her face, fingers meeting with the ginger locks above her ear.

“There had better be time later,” she said, her lips still very close to his, but then her grip on his scarf was loosening. “So you take care of yourself out there, and meet me on the other side.”

Aloy stepped off the platform again, back onto her miracle flying board. “I will if you will,” he said.

She granted him one last smile over her shoulder. “Go now,” she said. Then she had her weapon in hand, lapping the tower before diving down, arrows flying from her bow, until she flew directly into the half collapsed opening into the facility.

Erend's lips still felt warm, his heart was beating hard against his rib cage.

“Cap, the look on your face,” Gareth said, laughing as they turned to descend the ladder down from the guard tower.

  
—————-

Aloy set her bow to stun, this allowed her to blaze through the entry way and the first two rooms of the ruins with abandon, rendering the occupants of these spaces unconscious.

She found the door to the rest of the facility down a couple levels, plucking off bandits here and there as she flew instead of walked the stairs, bouncing slightly off the stairwell walls.

Before she breached the door she stepped off of the board, shaking her head. “Take the board out, it's going to be too tight for flying,” Aloy said, straightening up and pointing back up the stairs. “Perhaps the shield could be of use to the Vanguard. I've got this with the armor.”

_‘As you wish, remember that you've trained for this.’_

The board whizzed away, and Aloy took a deep breath and thought of the combat simulations she'd run. She thought of the many metal shelled facilities she'd cleared of enemies in her day. Today though she would aim to stun, she clicked her focus, marking the orange outlines through the walk before reaching out and activating the door.

As she had hoped, the man closest the door turned to look through it and she fired immediately. Leaping over his prone form and firing into the next she saw. Then she dove just in time behind what appeared to be a buffet line, for serving food. The rattle of bolts hitting it echoed around the chamber.

A rattler living up to its name. She pegged him on her focused, waiting for him to sidestep a chair before springing up, arrow already alight, letting it fly into his chest.

_‘Chamber clear.’_

“One down,” Aloy said, storming on into the next room, a wide expanse of tables and chairs. She vaulted one, her metallic boots colliding with a bandits chest as she fired into another. Then down at her feet into the one she had barreled over.

Her Focus interface was lit up and she aimed for every target without hesitation. She lost track after a while, clearing four rooms and moving onto what appeared to be living quarters in what felt like a blink of an eye.

Just another simulation, a part of her kept repeating, it kept her calm, her heart rate level as she plowed through the facility.

_‘I've located the weapons stores.’_

Aloy ducked behind a bunk, her back coming to rest on a bedside table. “Well, map the route then,” she whispered impatiently.

It came up, a blue trail that she immediately set to follow, firing instinctually at two bandits attempting to spring from a storage closet to surprise her. She'd picked up enough blaze along the way to hook up a rudimentary bomb, blow the weapons, then get the hell out the other side of this pit and smell the fresh air again.

To think she thought she'd missed the underground facility, but she realized as she scaled a ladder up a level that she didn't miss the feeling of being buried. Underground. Suffocating.

The feeling distracted her, she didn't notice the bandit waiting for her at the top of her climb, he nearly knocked her back the moment her feet met with the metal floor. Fortunately she caught herself on a light bracket just in time and instead sent him tumbling past her over the edge.

It was a two story drop. “Sorry!” She called, then mostly to herself as she turned and notched an arrow for the next foe. “I would have rather stunned you.”

—————-

The first part of the plan had gone surprisingly well, Erend thought as he watched the newly freed men before him re-arm, and prepare to set back out. They were surrounded again by heaping crates of resources, presumably stolen from traders the bandits had highjacked.

As the men gathered up, Erend pulled the disc Aloy had given him from his pocket, depressing the blue button at the center to activate it. Again the map of the camp appeared, and Erend took a moment to appreciate the gasps from his men.

“The target is here,” Erend pointed to the furthest end of the settlement from where they had come. “The other access to the additional compound below. Fan out, push them in, it's their last stronghold. Let's take it.”

He injected as much confidence into his voice as he could, his eyes found the green dot moving along in the expanses below, she was moving in and out of a compartment that was alone on a level by itself. Then she moved rapidly away from the room at top speed.

Beneath their feet, something reverberated, his men all looked down and around their feet, a heat signature appeared on the map where Aloy had just left and Erend swallowed hard.

_‘Aloy has destroyed the weapon stores, she's proceeding to the East end of the facility. You should be moving.’_

Erend had almost forgotten about GAIA. “Right you are,” he said, clicking off the display. “Alright men, let's roll out.”

Erend gripped his maul tightly in his hands, and led his men through the maze of crates and back into the main run towards their destination. The village itself was to a certain extent in ruins at this point, with many structures burning.

The marched through this, with out much resistance, but as they rounded the bend into the last open courtyard of sorts, the center of which towered the ruin of the ancient one he now understood it to be, canon fire rang out from somewhere to his left.

He had thought they'd taken down all the canons, lights flashed, the sound reverberating so close to him, as he clenched his eyes closed waiting for the fatale blow that never comes.

_‘Shield deployed.’_

Erend’s breath caught in his throat, eyes popping open. Aloy’s board had appeared, hovering ahead of his line of men, projecting some sort of blue glowing wall upon which the shells were exploding doing apparently no damage to the barrier.

Gareth stepped forward, right up to the wall, his bow pulled tight and began to fire upon the tower. Striking down the two men within.

_‘They have the tower at the other end as well.’_

“Well then we better go get it,” Erend said, signaling his men to begin a route around to the South of the central structure. He couldn't believe he was talking to a hovering machine of some sort, but it carried on whirring above them as he and his men pushed in, and he felt all the safer for it.

He thought of Aloy, resisting the urge to inquire endlessly about her status. Reminding himself to focus instead on the task at hand, as the remaining tower came into view. It was like Aloy had said, there would be time later.

Hopefully.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, needed a bit of a break after the breakneck pace I set for the first 2/3rds of the month. 
> 
> Hitting the good stuff now I feel. ;-)
> 
> I neglected comment replies too, I'm such a slacker. Promise to be better about that this chapter. 
> 
> And as always thank you so much for reading.


	20. I Need The Sun To Break

The stairwell rattled as Aloy descended it at rapid pace, the bomb had clearly gone off as planned, meaning that the mass of ammo and weapons the shadow Carja bandits had stashed had been destroyed. Two men were waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, she could see their orange outlines on her Focus from one level up.

She rounded the last switch back, placed a hand on the railing and vaulted it, dropping down on top of them. Her heavy metal boots landed on ones shoulders, and he crumpled. She had her bow in hand and drew it before the other could react. The light arrow flew into his face, and he fell backwards. She had to step carefully over him to make the door, where she turned to fire into the man she had landed on, ending his attempts to rise back onto his feet.

Aloy was starting to feel the wear from the rapid pace expenditure of energy, she took a moment to catch her breath in the hall, examining the rooms that remained between her and the way out of the facility at the other end on her Focus.

Many of the enemy icons were heading towards that exit, and it gave her the urge she needed to keep moving. The less of these men who made it out the better off the Vanguard would be.

The better off Erend would be.

She thought about their kiss, as she activated the next door, pressing her back against the wall adjacent to it and watching the silhouettes through her Focus. She wasn't sure what had come over her in that moment, but it has been just as electrifying as it had been two years ago. If there had been any remaining doubt as to if the spark was still there between them it was long gone now.

No one was doubling back to investigate the door, so Aloy slid in, crouching low behind what remained of an ancient console of some sort. She accidentally nudged a chair which squeaked and swiveled.

This, finally, made the two men at the other end of the room look around. Aloy drew the imaginary string of her bow, the light arrow illuminated the otherwise dark compartment, so she wasted no time springing up and stunning the closest.

His fellow had a bow of his own, and fired it at Aloy. The Shield-Weaver armor illuminated, flashing red and absorbing the damage as she fired into the attacker.

_‘Chamber clear. Erend has successfully freed his men, they're attempting to take the remaining guard tower.’_

The map had flashed up on her Focus, he was at the other end, right where he was meant to be. The need to get the hell out of this underground pit of a facility rose inside her, to get to him and help end this.

Aloy stormed up the next set of metallic stairs, catching up to the departing bandits. She'd keep as many from making it through as she could, and then fight back however many made it to the top once she got there.

She just hoped Erend continued to fare okay.

—————-

Three times. Three times GAIA had shielded Erend and his men with the shield from the hover board and probably saved his life. So as the tower fell finally, he looked around apprehensively as the board suddenly zoomed away.

The Vanguard were fanning out, as ordered, meeting what he hoped would be the last wave of bandits through the ancient ruin of a structure that stood at the center of the square. His eyes sought out the blue glow of the board as it soared over the heads of the fighting men.

Erend didn't have time to sit still, he swung on a bandit brandishing a dagger, knocking him back for Gareth to send an arrow into the fiend’s chest. By the time Erend looked back the board was zooming upward, nearly upon the structure now.

The shattering of glass, shards showering down from a window a few floors up, and a body of bandit fell from it. Erend managed to look up just in time to see Aloy launch herself from the window, springing from the ledge with both feet, jumping out over the courtyard below.

Her name died in his throat as he realized the board was there, waiting for her. It snapped onto her feet as she came down, the blue lights flaring brighter as it pushed back to counter her weight. Aloy let out a small whoop as if even she was surprised she’d managed this, taking the board down in a controlled dive, circling behind his men, the river of fire that was her hair snapping and waving in the air behind her.

Erend was nearly knocked off his feet by one of his own men, having stopped to watch this and completely losing focus on where he was.

“Look alive, Cap,” Elof said, pulling the captain back into the battle. Shoulder to shoulder, they pushed forward against a particularly burly bandit, knocking him over and advancing towards the building.

He couldn't look around at the sounds he knew to be her board, and once even the deployment of the shield. Erend focused on the next target, the next assist he could give a fellow Vanguardsman.

Then, he lifted his maul to strike an axe bearing menace when he was beat to the punch by a speeding arrow of pure light.

Aloy landed mere feet from him, leaping down like a Stalker down a cliff, landing with her a knee bent, one hand touching the ground for the briefest of moments before she straightened up. “Power it down somewhere, we will need the last of the battery to get home,” she said, a hand up on the side of her face, touching her Focus.

Erend’s stomach did a funny little flop at the word ‘home’. The fact she was referring to Meridian, the same city he called home, was not lost on him. She'd been saying it, and he had been scared to let himself believe it.

She looked around to him, tossing her lengthy hair over her shoulder, and reaching for her bow from her back. Her eyes locked upon his, and she fired into another bandit who was coming up on his six, the light flashing past his face leaving the outline on his vision even after it was long gone.

“You okay?”

This was the second time she'd asked this so simply during this clash, and yet he felt the weight both times. The genuine concern behind her eyes as she looked over him.

“Yeah, you?”

Same answer as before, she was right next to him now, nodding for them to join the line of his men, her electronic armor flashing in the night.

“Now that I'm above ground again,” she answered, firing between two Vanguard into the remaining line of enemies. They were being pushed back towards the ruin slowly. “I'll be even better once we finish this.”

Erend wanted to kiss her again, knowing full well what a ridiculously inappropriate moment it would be to do so. But as she tilted her head up to look at him, making sure he was ready to rush in beside her, he very nearly did it.

Instead he managed to say “I got your back” and nudged her arm with his. She smiled. Oh how he had forgotten how radiant she was when she smiled.

“And I’ve got yours.”

Aloy returned the arm nudge, and then adjusted her grip on her bow and led the way towards the front lines. Erend waited a half of a breath, trying not to enjoy the view of her walking away, before following.

He knew now he’d follow her anywhere. Should have followed her nine months before. As he watched her slide between two of his own Vanguard, glowing arrows blazing, he swore he wouldn't make that mistake again.

—————-

_‘They appear to be surrendering.’_

The remaining bandits were dropping weapons, some falling to their knees hands raised. Aloy had just drawn to fire, but her target was also moving to kneel. Slowly she brought her hand back to its home position, the arrow puffing from existence.

A roar passed through the Vanguard, as they bellowed and cheered at their victory. The ground fight, once she had arrived, had moved swiftly, still Aloy was glad to stop and catch her breath. She looked around for Erend, spotting the back of his mohawk as he heaved one of his men up from the ground.

He was rolling his eyes at the cheering when he turned, spotting her. For a few moments they just looked at each other, surrounded by the rowdy Vanguard. Then he seemed to come back to himself, looking around.

“Alright that’s enough, there's work to be done,” he shouted.

Aloy stood back and watched as he set about giving orders to take the criminals into custody. Watching the soldiers snap back into attention as he did this was amusing. They were dispersing around her, going to fulfill their assigned duty. Some nodded to her, even thanked her as they went.

Gareth was the last to go, and soon Erend was taking slow steps towards her, and she had to remind herself how to breath. His face was red, flush from battle, and shone a bit in the moonlight. Warmth pooled in Aloy’s gut, as he ran a gloved hand down the band of hair on his head and brought his eyes to hers.

Neither spoke for what felt like an eternity, Aloy swallowed, trying to tamp down the warm bubbling feeling in her stomach. “Is it weird that was a little fun for me?” she asked, for something to say.

Erend's face split into a smile, and he laughed. “You would say that,” he said. “I guess it had its moments. Still, I'm glad it's over and thank you, for turning up in time to save our collective asses. Now all that's left is the boring part.”

He reached out, gloved fingers finding her hand, encompassing it. “Well, you'll have to forgive me for ducking out on the boring part,” Aloy said, pressing her palm against the leather that protected his, as he squeezed her hand gently.

They were surrounded by his men and the bandits they were taking into custody, and still she very nearly closed the distance between them.

The hover board came zooming over from somewhere, but neither of them looked around at it as it stopped alongside them.

“I'm going to be tied up here a while,” he said, sounding very much like he wished this wasn't the case.

“I know,” she said, “and I've got to get this thing back before it's battery conks out on me. This was supposed to be a test flight.”

They laughed together then. “Well I can attest that the shield functions beautifully,” Erend said. The laughter stopped instantly, as Aloy looked very seriously back up at him realizing what that meant. “Between you and GAIA I think I dodged death four or five times tonight.”

Aloy hugged him. She didn't care that they were both wearing armored chest pieces, or that they were standing in the middle of a battlefield after victory.

His arms came gingerly around her, careful not to knock her weapons asunder. “It's okay. I'm okay.” He said this in a low voice that increased the flutter in her gut.

“Good because I never would have forgiven you,” Aloy said, leaving off the ‘if you'd died’ at the end of the sentence, though she was sure they both heard it in the implication anyway. She pulled back from him, looking in his face, running a hand across the hair along his jawline. “Just come by the workshop. Whenever. After you've wrapped this up and slept it off.”

“I will,” he said.

Erend didn't kiss her, he just ran gloved finger through her hair for the briefest of gestures before stepping back to allow her to mount her hover board.

Aloy felt the magnets lock into place. She turned the board slowly, looking down to Erend as she rose. “Looking forward to it,” she said.

Bending at the waist, she swiveled the board around in the air, and then took off back North towards Meridian, sparing Erend one last look before she couldn't see him any longer.

In fact within minutes all she could see was dense jungle below her as she retraced her route home.

_‘Battery level 15%.’_

“Is it enough to get back?” Aloy asked.

_‘Yes, provided you do not need to deploy the shield again for any reason.’_

Aloy nodded, continuing her flight. The shield of course would be battery intensive It was worth it though having saved Erend and herself numerous times.

“Should be a quiet trip back, so that shouldn't be a concern,” Aloy said. “We’ll have to start running specs on a higher capacity power source perhaps.”

_‘I was thinking the same.’_

The Spire was glittering on the horizon now, glowing blue against the navy sky, peppered with stars. Finally Aloy allowed herself to feel the exhilaration of the flight. She spread her arms, enjoying the feel of the wind whipping by her.

_‘It's nice to see you so happy.’_

Aloy hadn't realized she was until she heard this. This was more than just the post victory adrenaline, much more.

She was happy. It was as if a wall had come down between herself and Erend, they were seeing each other clearly once again. He was going to come by and -

Would they kiss again? Would he hold her in his arms? She thought back to daydreams woven overtop of circuit boards, turned over in her mind as she had worked for months to accomplish her goal.

So lost in her thoughts on the matter, Aloy made it over the Alight without even realizing, she broke slightly East and flew right up to the towering city. She could see the glass window sliding away, and she flew directly into her workshop the same way shipments form the Cauldrons did.

She ducked so as not to bump her head on the window frame and soon was stepping off her board alongside the work table.

_‘Battery level 2%.’_

The board flew up above the work table and cut power, clattering to the tabletop.

“Just in the nick of time,” Aloy said, collapsing onto the stool. The console flickered into life beside her, steaming data collected during the test flight turned rescue mission. “Don't suppose I could get some tea.”

Aloy was fumbling to remove the clamped on metal boot apparatus that kept her attached to the board, the armor she was wearing protesting as she did so.

_‘Of course, I'll whip some up.’_

“Thanks, I've got to get out of this insanity,” she said, finding her feet and heading up to the apartment to change clothes.

—————-

Erend’s body was exhausted by the time he was set loose from his duties. The sky was starting to lighten, but they had gotten it all done. The cells under the Sun-Ring were packed, and it would take a while to get them all transferred to Sun Stone but his job in the matter had ended with his debrief.

The King had not even bothered to hide his amusement and curiosity as he heard of Aloy literally flying in to save the Vanguard. Marad had looked properly ashamed at his intel having failed to fully prepare them for what they were facing.

All in all, it had gone swimmingly. But as the King had dismissed him with the order of “Go. Rest.” Erend had found himself walking past the turnoff for his own home.

Instead he went to the market, and bought two bottles of ale. He knew he should drink approximately zero alcohol, but it had been a long night.

Besides, he realized as he walked out the market at the opposite end he should have to go to his apartment, he wasn't going to drink them both.

Erend tried to think of what he would say, as his feet carried him towards her door. A more in depth apology perhaps. It wasn't until he passed through the arch at the end of her block that it occurred to him she might not be awake.

How many hours had it been? He'd been up all night and long since lost track of time as it flowed by. He also had no idea how long a flight back would have taken. It wasn't a thing he had ever had to consider, how much faster a bird must travel versus say a fox.

The bottles clinked together under his arm as he stepped up onto her porch. He'd forgotten the new door security, looking down at the unlit panel for a moment. Then he knocked.

Erend hadn't meant to, but he held his breath as he waited, then a flash of green in his peripheral as the panel lit up, and the door swung inward.

He let out the breath in a sigh as his eyes found her, perched on her stool at the bank of monitors. She was wearing some sort of loose fabric clothing of a type he'd never seen before, it was thin material, and draped over her frame beautifully.

The door closed behind him as he stepped through it, and soon she spun the stool around, standing up on bare feet. The pants were long and flowy like the top swishing around her legs as she stood. The front neckline of the shirt came down in a V and he had to force his eyes up from the freckles he could see there.

“I honestly didn't expect you until later,” she said. “Have you slept?”

Erend chuckled, rubbing his neck, and shaking his head. “Not so much,” he said.

“Me either,” she said, with a cute little shrug. She reached out, a hand coming to rest on the striped fabric of his shirt just above his elbow.

Erend gazed down into her eyes and tried to remember how to speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Coasts in on her hover board*
> 
> I'm having too much fun with this perhaps. But we are finally here! 
> 
> These two knuckleheads had to nearly die a handful of times to stop being dumb. 
> 
> I'm so excited. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and special thanks to my commenters. 
> 
> I've legit stopped what I was doing and switched to writing because a particularly good comment has given me the push. Thank you all.
> 
> PS it's damn lucky they make it through this considering how completely distracted they both are with each other. ;-P


	21. You've Woken Up My Heart

Aloy sipped down the last cold dregs of her tea, setting down the cup and leaning towards the monitor. GAIA was live modifying the design for the Mark III version of her hover board, complete with its own weapons.

She was about to ask something about the shield design when a small block popped up in the bottom right corner of the screen beneath the words “DOOR PROXIMITY ALERT”.

Blinking, Aloy completely forgot what she had meant to ask, as she saw that it was Erend outside her door. He looked down at the camera for a moment, then back at the door, raising a hand to knock.

_'Looks like you have a visitor.’_

GAIA sounded about as amused as the AI was capable of sounding, and she didn’t wait for Aloy’s instructions to go ahead and open the door. Aloy closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she heard him enter behind her, before finally swiveling around on the stool to greet him.

Erend was still in full armor, she wondered if he had even gone home before coming to see her. “I honestly didn’t expect you until later,” she said, stopping herself just a couple steps in front of him. “Have you slept?”

Rubbing his neck, Erend gave her a lopsided smile and said “Not so much.”

“Me either,” she admitted with a shrug, then though she hadn’t remembered deciding to do so she extended a hand and touched his arm. The yellow striped shirt he wore under his armor was as soft as she remembered.

Erend simply stared down at her for a few moments, his grey eyes boring into hers. She raised her eyebrows expectantly, he’d come to see her after all.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be up,” he said, shaking his head as if shaking himself out of a daze. “But I figured if you were, maybe we could have a drink.” He gestured to the bottles under his arm. “And, you know, talk about everything.”

Aloy was nodding fervently, before he had had even finished talking. “Sure,” she said in a voice far more breathy than she had meant. She cleared her throat, dropping her hand from his arm. “In fact, why don’t we go upstairs, and we can sit at the kitchen table?”

It was his turn to nod immediately.

“Just, one second,” Aloy said, she went to the console. “GAIA why don't you just finish up some designs and render them. I'll look them over later.”

_‘Will do, Aloy. Get some rest. Good to see you Erend.’_

“Thanks for the cover tonight, GAIA,” Erend said, behind her.

_‘Anytime. If I see one of you storming out in a few minutes I'll be very disappointed.’_

Aloy couldn't help but laugh, turning from the console to see Erend’s sheepish face, his mouth slightly open as he fumbled for something to say.

“Not this time,” Aloy said. “Goodnight GAIA. Or, morning I should say.”

The sun was up outside the window as Aloy beckoned for Erend to follow her up the stairs. She paused at the top, as she always did, to remove her Focus and placed it on the ledge adjacent to the door. She was acutely aware of Erend behind her on the stairs, watching curiously as she did this.

Aloy pushed open the door and stood back to let him into the apartment before closing it again.

“The apartment is a tech free zone,” Aloy answered his curious look. “GAIA sees and hears everything everywhere else, I needed a place to just…”

“Be?” Erend offered.

“Something like that,” she said, walking towards the kitchen table with its two wooden chairs she had hardly ever had occasion to sit in. Nerves were flaring inside her, somehow in the heat of moment back at the bandit camp she hadn't felt them. Now she sank into one of the chairs because she wasn't quite sure what she normally did with her arms.

Erend placed a bottle in front of her, and then the second pretty close next to it. Aloy’s kitchen table was round, and the chairs were sitting opposite each other across the woodgrain top. Erend pulled the other out, but instead of sitting he pulled it around the table so that once he sat in it his elbow brushed hers as he went to pull off his gloves and toss them on the table.

“You're still in full armor, did you even go home?” Aloy asked.

“No. King said ‘go rest’ and I,” he paused having opened the first bottle, turning to hand it to her, his grey eyes coming to hers. “Came here.” He opened the second bottle and held it up, they clinked them together and Aloy took a sip of the bitter amber liquid.

Aloy had actually drank a couple times here in Meridian after the battle at the Spire. Saying no to a brew at a Vanguard celebration was a difficult thing to accomplish she had discovered. She'd come to enjoy the rare occasion though she had not in two years.

“I feel like I should start by apologizing. Again,” he said, his eyes falling to the top of his bottle before he took another sip. “I let you leaving embitter me and even when you came back I just…” He shook his head. “I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance. We could have had this conversation weeks ago.”

“Well,” Aloy said, searching for her words, running a finger around the small mouth of the bottle she was gripping. “I'm sorry that I did it how I did. If I could do it again…”

Aloy didn't know the end of the sentence. She'd do it differently but she wasn't even sure how. Erend brought his eyes up from his drink. He didn't speak so she went on.

“Not a day went by when I didn't miss you,” she said, admitting the truth of the matter.

Erend sat his bottle down on the table, bringing his hand up to her cheek. His fingers were slightly rough, his thumb brushed along her skin delicately. “I missed you too. So much,” he said in a low voice. “Memories did not do you justice.”

“Nor did the videos from my Focus do you justice,” Aloy said, with a guilty smile, knowing she was admitting to having watched them. Erend’s face lit up a little as he understood what she meant, his wide lips twitching up into a sweet smile framed by the hair along the top of his lip, and down along his jaw.

His hand slid further along the side of her head, fingers entwining into her hair. “I'm sorry I was a scared idiot,” he murmured.

Aloy shook her head against his hand gently, leaning against him now as his other arm slid onto the back of the chair. “Funny because I'm also sorry for being a scared idiot,” she all but whispered, a hand coming up to his neck.

Then they were kissing, the bottles of ale forgotten on the table. Erend's armor pressed into her uncomfortably, but she ignored it, losing herself in the feel of his lips moving against hers with soft urgency. When he parted them, his tongue flitting gently against her own she thought she might just catch fire. She tugged him ever closer by the scarf, and the arm on the back of the chair came down around her.

She wasn't sure how long they were locked together like this. She could have gone on forever if only it wasn't for the need of oxygen. They broke apart, each breathing heavy, trying to catch their breaths.

“So, we’re both sorry,” Aloy said, their foreheads pressed against one another.

Erend chuckled, and ran a hand down her hair. “And I take it we both accept each other's apologies?” he asked.

“No I usually go around kissing people I have no intention of forgiving,” she said, playfully.

“Yeah. Same.” His voice was low, and she realized why as his lips captured hers again. Aloy had forgotten what it was like to be kissed, the warmth that spread through her as their lips seemed to meld together. She ran a hand through the hair of his mohawk, the urge to rid him of the irksome armor rising ever higher as the round plate on his belly dug into hers as she leaned into him.

His eyes were closed as they parted, a smile on his lips. “Memories didn't do that justice either,” he said, as he opened his eyes and brought them to hers.

Aloy laughed. “You know GAIA has been pushing pretty hard for this,” she said, picking one of her own hairs off of his scarf. “She's going to be ecstatic.”

“Oh, I know,” he said, then he sat back from her a little as if considering what he should say next.

Aloy straightened up, his arm behind her back had loosened, but his hand was running slowly up and down between her shoulder blades. “What?”

“GAIA didn't want me to say,” Erend said. “But when I stopped by earlier she did a bit of pushing for it.”

Aloy dropped her hand from his scarf, her arms crossing over her chest. “What did she say to you?” she asked.

Erend looked amused as she glowered slightly at him. “She just helped me see some things I needed to see,” he said. “Like that I was holding a grudge for you doing something that's pretty amazing. That had to be done. That only you could do.”

Aloy felt herself unfold, allowing him to pull her into a hug, the side of her face coming to rest in the soft folds of his scarf.

“I'm pretty lucky that someone so special came back to me,” Erend said, his voice ghosting through her hair where his cheek was pressed against the top of her head.

“You did ask me to,” she said into his scarf, followed by a yawn she hadn't seen coming.

Erend hummed. “I guess I did, didn't I?”

Now that she was realizing her own tiredness she also heard it in his voice. Slowly she disentangled herself from him, sitting back to look at his face, taking in the bags under his eyes.

“As much as I'd love to stay here and talk about this for hours,” Aloy said. “We are both exhausted.”

“I must admit, I'm pretty dead on my feet here.” Erend agreed, with a wan smile. “I couldn't have figured this out at a reasonable hour, say early afternoon after absolutely nothing eventful has occurred?”

Aloy bit her lip, steeling herself to ask. “You could stay, if you want,” Aloy said. His head popped up, a look of surprise on his face. He had just made to scoot his chair back to stand but paused midway. “We can get some sleep, and finish, you know, talking once we are both rested.”

For a moment she actually thought he was going to turn her down, he stared into her eyes and she could practically see the cogs in his head working. He glanced past her towards her bedroom, the screen wall was pulled back and her unmade bed clearly visible. It was plenty big for two people.

“It's not like I have anywhere I need to be today,” he said finally, and then he bent and began unbuckling his boots.

The smile that spread across Aloy’s mouth had to have been enormous. “I'll just go wash up,” she said, and as she walked behind his chair to go to the washroom she brushed her hand through his hair again.

Aloy had what could only be described as a small fit of celebration once she reached the privacy of the washroom. She danced to music that wasn't there, and then hugged herself a bit to calm down.

He was staying. He was actually staying. She went to the basin and using a cloth to tidy herself up a bit. She had after all been in a battle that night. She ran her fingers through her hair, and then grabbed a comb to get out a particularly frustrating snag.

She took a couple long breaths before pulling the door back open and returning to the main space of the apartment.

Erend was free of his armor now, it was stacked neatly on the table, the boots tucked together on the floor underneath. He was down to the billowy trousers he always wore, and the soft yellow striped shirt.

He turned as she reappeared, his eyes coming to hers as he reached for the hem of the shirt, pulling it off over his head. Erend never slept with a shirt on, she remembered, and as he rid himself of the garment Aloy couldn't help but raking her eyes across his chest. It was hairy, as most Oseram men’s chests were, but the fuzz clung to defined muscle.

Aloy had to resist the urge to go straight to him and run her fingers over every inch of his exposed skin. Instead she led the way towards the bed.

“After you,” Aloy said, as she went to adjust the screen so that it blocked some of the light coming from the kitchen windows.

Surprisingly, Erend didn't hesitate, he flopped down into the bed, and scooted himself towards the wall side. He tugged the covers over his legs, then looked up to her where she stood along the edge of the mattress.

She considered him for a minute, then decided and slid off the flowy cotton pants. She was wearing small shorts, her underwear, underneath but just like he never slept in a shirt, she usually never slept in pants.

Erend’s eyes were still on her legs when she looked up to him. She laughed and they snapped up to hers.

Aloy slid under the covers, and in moments he was pulling her against him, his arms encompassing her from behind. His knees tucked in behind her own, his body contouring behind her, his breath in her hair where it lie across her neck.

“Yet another thing memories failed to do justice,” he said.

“Tell me about it,” she said relishing in his warmth, marveling at how he could hold her so firmly and yet so gently at the same time “I slept alone in little metal compartments wishing you could hold me.”

Erend placed a gentle kiss just behind her ear. “You don't have to sleep alone anymore,” he said, his voice was sleepy.

Aloy closed her eyes, letting the reassurance of the words wash over her. She could feel his breath slowing against her neck feel the arms around her relax as he drifted to sleep. A tiny part of her feared that if she fell asleep she'd wake to find this was all a dream.

But her own tiredness overrode this, and she fell into a sound sleep safely tucked in his arms for the first time in two years.

—————-

As Erend woke, at first he was sure it had to have been a dream. He had gone home after debrief, passed out and dreamed of snuggling with Aloy through the night.

Then, he smelled the scent of her hair. It permeated his sleepy mind, the soft scent of something floral and the smell of machine oil. Aloy the beautiful Tinker was curled up in his arms, her body pressed against his from her shoulders down to her ankles.

Erend drug open his half awake eyes, taking in the sight for himself. He was really there, sleeping in her bed, holding her in his arms. Her beautiful face was relaxed, her lips slightly parted, breathing slow and steady as she slept on.

He didn't want to wake her, so instead he allowed himself the luxury of nuzzling his face back into her neck, surrounding himself with the scent of her hair. He slipped in and out of sleep again for a while, until the sound of a series of tones drifted to him from the door down to the workshop.

It was definitely some sort of electronic sound, two tones one higher then lower. It went off a couple times, Erend was just about to wake Aloy when she sat suddenly up in the bed next to him.

She rubbed her eyes, and blinked as if momentarily surprised by his presence. Then she seemed to relax, leaning over him and planting a peck of a kiss on his lips. The bing bong tones sounded again.

“What is that?” Erend asked.

Aloy let out an annoyed sigh, and slid away from him, out of the bed. “Means GAIA wants something,” she said, sounding very much like she didn't care what GAIA might want at the moment.

Her little shorts were barely visible under the long tunic she was wearing, and Erend’s eyes were caught up where the light fabric met with the pale freckled skin of her thighs. She went to the door and reached out to retrieve her Focus.

“Yes GAIA, what is it?” She kept her back to the bed, presumably to keep the Focus looking at the kitchen. She straightened up. “Oh, that's unexpected. Yes, do that, I'll be down once I'm dressed.”

Erend let his head fall back against the pillow, a small twinge of disappointment crossing him. “I'm afraid to ask,” he said, as she returned to the bedroom, having deposited her Focus back on the other side of the door. He was surprised that she climbed back into the bed, sitting with her legs tucked partially under her next to him. His hand came down from his chest, and he ran it down her calf on impulse.

“The King is here,” she said, simply. “Because why wouldn't the King stop by today of all days.”

She laughed then, running a hand across his bare chest, and he realized she was disappointed also.

“You know, it would figure my boss would show up,” he said. “The first time I spend the night here.” He brought his hand up to catch hers where it still moved along his chest, entwining his fingers with hers.

“There’ll be other nights,” Aloy said, and it sent a tingle of excitement through Erend at the idea. “I guess you have a couple choices here though.”

“Choices?” Erend asked. Aloy looked down at him as if it was obvious, but he simply kissed the back of her hand, causing her to smile widely and explain.

“Well, you can either stay up here, until he's gone,” she said. “Or you can come down stairs.”

Aloy rose from the bed and began getting dressed. Erend hadn't even considered the fact that Avad was between himself and the only way out aside from perhaps climbing from a window. Erend tried to weigh the options but had become increasingly distracted as Aloy slid off her flowy top and began dressing in one of her Carja silk outfits.

“You’d be okay if I came downstairs and he knew I’d spent the night?” Erend asked.

“I would,” she said without hesitation, now bending to put on boots and forcing Erend to bunch the covers around him to hide the fact that he was slowly becoming aroused watching her dress. He wanted to immediately strip her of every item she had put on.

“Oh and it isn't just Avad,” Aloy said, now fully dressed and returning to stand at the head of the bed. “Marad and Gareth are with him.”

She leaned over the mattress, her hair falling around their faces as she kissed him.

“Which would you prefer?” Erend asked, wondering if this was a test.

“I'm fine with whatever you choose, it’s YOUR boss after all,” Aloy said. She seemed to mean this. “The choice is yours, if you don't come down I'll be back whenever they go.”

Another kiss, Erend wanted to draw her back into the bed with him, but instead he leaned back against the pillows and watched her go.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'alls comments last chapter had me rolling. The "if you're awake enough to visit you're awake enough to do it" campaign was inspirational. 
> 
> Don't worry, I promise I won't deprive you for too long. But this little interruption had always been planned and.... I wanted to :-P
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and a special thanks to the commenters. Y'all are awesome.


	22. I'm Shaking

Aloy left the apartment, closing the door behind her. The three men were standing in the middle of the workshop speaking to GAIA, who was up on the holograph projector. Both Marad and the King were staring raptly at the AI, so that the only one who looked around when the door closed was Gareth.

He wasn’t in uniform, instead in a violet colored silk shirt and much less billowy pants than usually went under the Vanguard armor. He peered up to her, watching as she snagged her Focus from the ledge and pressed it in place next to her ear.

‘ _There she is.’_

Avad finally looked to her as she descended the stairs. He looked shell shocked, as most people seemed to look after meeting GAIA for the first time.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Aloy said, reaching the bottom of the stairs. Gareth looked at her, then past her up the stairs to the closed door, then back to her again with a suspicious look.

“From what I hear, you had a late night,” the King said, coming forward to greet her. “Flying in to assist my Vanguard quite spectacularly, from what I hear.”

Aloy laughed. “Is that why you're here?” she asked, looking from him to Marad before sidling between the two to reach the console.

“Well, when you hear one of your newest citizens has a flying machine,” Avad said, trailing off.

Aloy was for the first time very aware of the lack of seating inside her workshop. Aside from the one stool she wheeled around there wasn't anywhere to invite them to sit down. Instead they all stood in a semi circle in the open space at the middle of the shop.

“I see you met GAIA,” Aloy said, nodding to the AI.

_‘Good afternoon, Aloy. I trust you slept well.’_

“I did, thank you GAIA,” Aloy answered. Then she refocused her attention on the King, who looked extremely out of place in his regal Carja robes amongst the gadgetry that surrounded him. “So you came all the way here instead of calling me to the palace, must be a reason.”

Avad straightened up. “I was hoping to see for myself,” he said. “This technology you used to save my men. This workshop where you tinker and build things. I find it all… fascinating.”

“Fair enough,” Aloy said, she was about to go to the work table, where the hover board still remained from when she'd returned from the bandit camp.

Then she heard the distinct sound of the apartment door opening and then closing again at the top of the stairs.

Aloy’s back was to the stairs, but Gareth was facing her, he looked past her to where the sound of footsteps descending could be heard. His face quickly spread with sheer glee, he might as well have just been told his birthday had come early.

“Captain?” It was the first time Marad had spoken since they’d arrived. He'd been staring at GAIA nearly the whole time Aloy had been downstairs.

“Looks like you had an even longer night than I realized,” Gareth quipped. Aloy resisted the urge to elbow him and instead turned to see Erend take the last couple steps down the stairs.

  
He had not donned his armor, just thrown on his shirt and shoes to go with the trousers he'd slept in. He met her eyes, with a nervous smile as if he wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. Aloy had sworn even to herself that it hadn’t been a test, but as Erend looked around the room and gave a small wave as a greeting, she was sure he had passed with flying colors.

_‘Good afternoon, Erend. I trust you also slept well.’_

Gareth exploded in laughter, sinking onto the stool and wheeling it further from the others across the space as he dissolved. At this Erend seemed to throw caution to the wind, and with a nod to the King as he passed, he came all the way to Aloy’s side.

Aloy felt her face flush as he greeted her with the briefest kiss on her cheek before settling to stand just behind her shoulder.

Gareth was pulling himself together now, but it was the King who broke the silence first. “Finally came around?”

This question was very clearly posed to Erend, he laughed behind her, and now one of his hands had found its way to her back. The warm fluttering began instantly in her tummy, she leaned slightly on him.

“Yeah all it took was her saving my life a few times,” he said.

Avad smiled then, but Gareth was positively beaming. He was practically having a staring contest with Erend. It took a lot of self control for Aloy not to laugh at this, so she stepped forward from Erend’s arm.

“This, however, isn't why you came,” she said, moving across the space and drawing every eye with her as she went around the work table to face them. “This is the board from last night. As you can see it's a little worse for wear.”

There was an arrow sticking from an exhaust port, and a myriad of cosmetic damage to the metal. The four men gathered around the table to look down at it.

“It's also completely dead,” she said, with a small smirk. “Was a rough test flight.”

“Wait, the board is dead?” Erend asked, his mohawked head popped up and he looked genuinely concerned at the notion.

Aloy nodded, looking down at the device. “Not to worry though, GAIA is already working on a replacement,” she said, mainly to reassure Erend. “If you look to the monitors she can bring up the plans.”

GAIA gladly accommodated, bringing up the plans. Avad and his advisor crept up close, enthralled but Gareth hung back to whisper under his breath.

“I knew it, I knew when you weren't home you had to be here,” he sounded gleeful.

Erend elbowed him, but Gareth just let out a wheezy laugh and moved out of reach as the King turned back to them.

“I would so love to see you fly sometime,” he said. “If I may, of course.”

Aloy was surprised by the request, but she didn't see the harm in it. “Sure, I can show you once the new board is up and running,” she said.

Silence fell for a moment, as Avad seemed to think about what to say next. Marad had been uncharacteristically quiet, seemingly off put by the workshop, and still steeling glances at GAIA’s hologram where she stood from the waist up alongside the bank of monitors quietly observing the room.

“I must ask,” Marad said suddenly, stepping back towards Aloy where she still stood next to the work table. “How have you kept your skills so sharp? In debrief the Vanguard described a fiercely accurate warrior, yet you say you've been living alone in isolated ruins of the ancient ones. How?”

Aloy blinked, surprised that this had occurred to anyone to ask. Then as she looked around to the others she realized that Marad was not alone in this curiosity. Even Erend was making a face to indicate this was a fair question, his eyebrows peaking as he gazed calmly back at her.

“Really? They said fiercely accurate?” Aloy asked lightly. “I'm flattered. I was fortunate to have access to a combat simulator at both facilities, to answer your question.”

Blank looks greeted this statement as the men around her attempted to work out what it meant.

_‘Perhaps a demonstration.’_

Aloy let out a very low groan.

“A demonstration? You have one of these here?” the King looked around at the fabricator, squinting at it as if to see if this was what she meant.

“It's the room behind you,” Aloy said.

—————-

Erend had wondered about the end of the workshop that was just an open room with glass walls on one end. He had marveled at the size of the glass panes, wondered how she'd even gotten them there. Then again how she'd gotten anything in the shop was a mystery to him.

He was leaning on the work table, trying to keep his eyes on her upper back as she walked towards this room. They drifted down, taking on the way the silk flaps of the skirt hugged her backside, the way the finished ends swished around her toned thighs.

“Tell me you sealed the deal.” Gareth had appeared at his shoulder, speaking in a whisper.

“Shut up,” Erend said, eyes snapping to his friend. “We slept, because we were exhausted. And then you brought the King here.”

This, of course, was the only reason Gareth would have found himself visiting Aloy with the two other men. He knew where Aloy lived.

“I tried, you know I did,” Gareth whispered back.

Erend laughed, and then lifted himself up off the work table. He was sure there was no resisting Avad’s request, but that wasn't going to stop Erend from razzing Gareth with it.

Especially since he was sure to be in for quite a bit of fun poking soon enough, not just from Gareth but from the entirety of his men. As he watched Aloy stepping into the glass room, adjusting a belt around her waist, he knew it would be worth all the haranguing in the world.

Erend stepped forward to join the others and he heard Gareth shuffle in behind him. Aloy’s eyes found his, and she winked.

“Alright GAIA, seal the door,” she said. She began to stretch, first twisting her back to one side, then the other. Then arching her back in a manner that her chest pressed out, and it made Erend’s heart race a little.

The glass door slid closed, and with a hiss of air the seam in which it was seated seemed to all but disappear. Aloy was speaking inside the room but they could no longer hear her. A few moments later her voice seemed to be coming from speakers behind them.

“Sorry, forgot its sound proof,” Aloy said. “The chamber has to be completely sealed to run the simulation.”

She stepped into the center of the room and unholstered one of two grips from the belt on her waist, it was made of smooth metal, with indentations for her fingers, she held it out to her side.

“Spear,” she said clearly, and suddenly bursting into existence from either end of where she was holding the grip appeared her spear. She spun it, gave it a few test jabs and then returned the grip to her hip, the weapon vanishing. Then she pulled the second grip into her left hand. “Bow.”

Again her weapon sprung into existence. The men on either side of Erend had gasped at both, and were leaning ever closer to the glass.

“Alright GAIA, just run something basic,” Aloy said, holstering the grip, and hence vanishing the bow.

_‘Basic? How boring for a demonstration.’_

Aloy rolled her eyes, and caught sight of Erend laughing at this through the glass. Their eyes met and she gave him a smile that he knew was just for him. It made him feel suddenly very warm.

“Fine then how about you at least start basic,” Aloy said. “And then you can get a bit more advanced. If you must”

_‘I think you'll find I must. Basic first. Are you ready?'_

Erend watched as Aloy’s stance firmed, her legs planting, her arms crossing over her chest “As if you need to ask,” she said, confidently. She was beautiful and powerful, and Erend was completely fucking smitten.

He watched in a half daze as the environment around her bloomed into life, a light pine forest suddenly filling the space behind the glass walls. Erend had been to the embrace only once yet he knew this was how the trees looked there.

Aloy stepped alongside the trunk of one of the trees, somehow pressing her back against it even though he knew it wasn't really there.

_‘Simulation beginning in three… two… one.’_

Erend and Aloy’s eyes locked together for the briefest of moments as one was reached, and then the trees were suddenly peppered with men. They looked to be bandits based on their clothing, some wielding small hatchets, others bows and arrows.

Aloy ground instantly into motion, bow in hand as she fired around the tree and immediately began dropping enemies from the safety of her cover.

Even when they reached her she destroyed them quickly, and accurately each disappearing in a hail of sparks as she made the fatale blows. She was all over the place, it was hard to keep track of her amongst the trees, and soon it was down to one remaining bandit which she brought down with a headshot from the other side of the space.

_‘Simulation clear. Perhaps you will now admit that was a little too easy. Your heart rate is not even elevated.’_

The forest vanished, and suddenly Aloy was visible again, laughing as she returned to the center of the room.

“Very well GAIA,” she said, cracking the knuckles of her fingers. “What did you have in mind?”

A battlement wall appeared in the foreground, off in the distance, somehow, the Spire appeared. The floor was suddenly the sun mosaic from up on the Alight. Aloy looked around seemingly unsurprised, she was shaking her head with a small grin on her face.

_‘Simulation beginning in three… two… one.’_

Manifesting all around her, in bright living color as if they were genuinely there, was an arrangement of Eclipse soldiers. Erend’s breath caught in his chest just seeing the wretched masks with the strange circle dabbed in red on them.

It was almost difficult to watch, she dove behind the battlement wall, as one of the soldiers was heaving with him a firespitter. The bolts from it struck the wall, knocking rock bits down on her as she notched her bow.

Aloy needed several attempts to bring down the heavy soldier, and as she’d done this the others had closed in. Aloy holstered the bow, squatting low behind the battlement wall as she switched to the spear.

Then she vaulted the wall, kicking back the closest Eclipse attacked and sinking the blade of her spear into another. It was easy to forget this was all taking place within the enclosed space that was the simulator. It was only when one of the others with him reacted that Erend remembered at all that they were there.

He was enthralled watching as Aloy cleared wave after wave switching between the weapons until none were left.

_‘Simulation complete. A new record by 13 seconds.’_

“Must have been on my A game,” Aloy said in response to this. The Alight vanished from around her, and the glass door hissed making all of the onlookers jump back. Marad had nearly been pressed up against it watching. “So, I think that should sufficiently answer your question,” she said to him as she passed on her way out of the simulator.

Erend was just as floored as the others after the demonstration, he hung back as Aloy and the King arranged for her to show him the new board once it was running, and then he and Marad departed.

Gareth, however, stayed behind.

Aloy had gone and retrieved a jug of water from a cabinet, and sank down onto the stool to drink it and catch her breath.

“The men are celebrating the victory tonight,” Gareth said. “I don't suppose you'll be in attendance?”

Erend had leaned back on the work table, crossing his arms over his chest. Aloy had turned away on the stool now to look at the monitor. He thought for a moment about inviting her to go along. The idea of them spending the evening surrounded by people, in a pub full of alcohol he shouldn't be drinking, immediately sounded unappealing.

“Tell ya what, I'll swing by your place in a bit and drop off some shards. I'll buy the first round as it's tradition,” Erend said. “But as far as attending? I am pretty sure I have other plans.”

Aloy’s posture shifted ever so slightly in her chair, her long hair swishing slightly behind her, he could almost imagine her smile.

“Smart man,” Gareth said. He stepped towards Erend and gave him a friendly pound on the shoulder. “And don't worry about the shards. Elof owes me fifty off a bet thanks to you two. I'll cover the first round.”

“Wait, what was the bet?” Erend asked, but Gareth was already to the door.

“You two love birds have a good night. I'll see you for rounds in the morning, Cap,” Gareth said over his shoulder, before the door closed and they were alone again.

Erend was sure that his cheeks were bright red by the time Aloy swung the stool back around to look at him.

“You could have gone if you wanted to,” she said, playfully. She rose to her feet and he met her half way covering the distance between them. Soon he was holding her against him, her face nuzzled under his chin.

“No thanks,” he said in a lower voice than he meant. He was running his hands over her back, fingers occasionally meshing with the long hair that flowed down it. “As I said I have plans.”

“Oh, and what are those?” Aloy asked this as she slowly pulled their torsos apart, looking him in the eyes.

“I'm going to go home, wash this battle off of me,” Erend said. “Then I'm going to pick us up some food, bring it back here and we will have dinner together.”

Aloy took in a deep breath, smiling brightly as she leaned her face up towards his. Erend kissed her pulling their bodies back together. He had already known he'd made the right choice, but as she bid him farewell at the door with another kiss he was all the more sure.

Erend lingered at the foot of the stairs down from her porch, his hand drifting up to his lips which still tasted of her, then he set off as quickly as he could back home. He didn't want to waste any more of their time than he already had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have been super kind to me lately. Thank you so much for reading. 
> 
> This train is just rolling right along. I hope everyone keeps enjoying the ride. :-)


	23. All My Luck Could Change

As Aloy closed the front door to the workshop, she lingered there, pressing her forehead against the wood grain. The fluttering butterflies in her stomach were having a field day, and the kiss they’d shared before he’d gone had left her breathless.

_‘Your heart rate is more elevated now than it was after the first simulation.’_

Somehow, Aloy had completely forgotten she wasn’t actually alone. She slowly turned from the door, facing GAIA’s hologram. The AI had quite the smile upon her dark face, her hands folded in front of her toga like robes.

Aloy laughed as she crossed the room to sit at the console on her stool. “Erend has that effect on me,” she admitted, sliding up to the desk.

_‘I can safely say that I have never seen you so flustered.’_

Flustered? Aloy supposed that was accurate, especially after the surprise arrival of the King, and subsequent interactions with Erend joining them.

“It’s been a weird day,” Aloy said, then she brought back up the design for the mark III hover board, spinning it on the middle monitor. “Any chance I can get some tea? I could use the boost.” Aloy illustrated this with a yawn.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t slept well, in fact she’d slept amazingly well curled in Erend’s arms. Her body was just feeling the complete inadvertent reversal of her sleep schedule.

GAIA did not verbally reply to this request, but within moments the food synthesizer dinged and Aloy wheeled her stool over to retrieve the slightly steaming tea from within. Aloy stifled another yawn as she returned to the console, gingerly holding the hot porcelain cup.

_‘Did the two of you sleep at all?’_

Aloy had picked an inconvenient moment to take her fist sip of tea, choking on the sweet scalding liquid.

“GAIA!” Aloy reached for a cloth, dabbing at the drink that had spilled down her front.

_‘I feel like it was a fair question.’_

Aloy glowered at her, setting down the cloth in a ball adjacent to her teacup. “Not that it is any of your business,” she said, side eying GAIA’s hologram “But yes, in fact, we did sleep. ALL we did was talk and then sleep. Thank you very much.”

_‘It’s nothing to be defensive about. You are twenty two years old, humans your age are usually sexually active.’_

Allowing her face to fall into her hands, elbows planted on either side of her cup on the desk top, Aloy let out a long sigh. “GAIA, please.”

_‘I am aware also that many humans prefer to keep such things private.’_

“Yes, please count me among those people,” Aloy begged, raising her head to look at GAIA’s holographic image. “I get so little privacy as it is.”

Silence fell, aside from the slight squeak of the stool as Aloy returned her attention to the monitors, and resumed sipping her tea.

_‘Apologies, Aloy. I am simply elated to see things turning around for you and Erend.’_

Aloy’s shoulders relaxed, her annoyance at the nosy AI ebbing away. “Yeah,” she breathed. “Me too.”

—————-

Erend didn’t realize, until he was stepping from the washroom clad only in a towel, that he had actually left his Vanguard armor in Aloy’s apartment. This was convenient, but he also worried it could be seen as presumptuous.

He didn’t want to take for granted that just because she’d asked him to stay once, didn’t mean she would again.

Fire and spit he hoped she would, it was all he could think of as he toweled dry and slid on clean underwear and trousers. It had been perhaps poetic intervention for Aloy to have had guests arrive as they’d been waking.

Now that he was clean he felt relieved they hadn’t gone farther than cuddling in his previous state.

Erend shaved before finishing dressing, tucking his striped shirt in as neatly as he could into his pants before fastening the belt.

The sky was reddening as he departed again, they had slept most of the daytime hours away. He’d spent some time deciding what he wanted to get them for dinner, Meridian was a cultural hub, even more now than it had been two years ago. Erend wanted something she’d never tried before, and for that he’d have to leave the mesa.

So he took one of the great elevators down to the village below, to a restaurant run by some travelers from the Forbidden West who had set up shop down by the docks. They served a savory stir fry with string like noodles that was quite delicious.

They were fast too, he stood at the small counter watching as they cooked in huge round pans in the back.

“For two tonight, eh Captain?” The old woman at the counter asked. He was a regular and usually got the same single serving meal for himself.

Erend chuckled, as he took the paper sack from her. “Nothing gets past you Gertrude,” he said. “Can I also get a jug of the spiced tea?”

“Tea? No rice wine? Are you feeling okay?” she asked, as she retrieved what she asked for from a ice chest behind the counter.

“I'm cutting back,” he said simply, paying his shards and tucking the jug under the same arm that supported the bag. “See ya next time.”

Erend ducked out of the small little restaurant, and back onto the village street. As he walked towards the elevator, he heard familiar voices drifting to him. He should have known he wouldn't make it without running into at least some of his men.

Sitting at the closed golden gate to the elevator was Elof, Brant and a couple other Vanguard. They were out of uniform and surely on their way to the victory celebration.

“Well, what have we here?” Elof said, as Erend approached the group. He eyed the food in Erend’s arms. “You don't look like you're on your way to the bar.”

“Your powers of observation are as keen as ever,” Erend said. “I'm afraid I have other plans.”

The gates folded away, and a handful of Carja citizens stepped out of the elevator. Erend and his men stepped in.

“What sort of plans, Cap?” Brant asked, waggling his eyebrows. “Here we were hoping you’d be the one to bring Aloy to the party.”

Elof snorted perhaps a little too loudly behind Erend and the Captain felt the hair on the back of his neck bristle. Erend was gripping the food bag tighter than necessary, as the elevator rose ever higher up the side of the Mesa.

“Aloy also has other plans,” he managed, as the doors folded away topside. Erend took two steps out and then turned to see Elof and the others in various states of surprise. “Speaking of, Elof, Gareth says you owe him fifty shards.”

The three Vanguard around Elof whooped, seemingly knowing exactly what that meant. Elof mouthed silently and Erend gave a small wave and turned.

“You boys have a good night,” he called back to them over his shoulder. “I know I will.”

Erend wanted to look back at the reaction to this, but instead he pressed on towards Aloy’s workshop.

—————-

“You can start the fabrication cycle tonight,” Aloy said, gazing at the final render of what would be her new board. “When Erend gets here we will be eating dinner up stairs and you can go.”

_‘Very well. Once fabrication begins it'll take thirteen point five hours to complete.’_

“I'll be test flying it tomorrow afternoon then,” Aloy said, spinning in the stool. She was combing her hair, and had been for the better part of an hour she felt.

When she'd bathed she decided on a whim to take out all her braids that had been woven through the lengthy strands for some time. She'd redo them eventually, but her hair was only just drying and she felt she'd leave it for the night.

Once she got this last tangle out at least. It took a few more minutes of delicate combing before finally it was loose and her hair flowed free at last.

_‘You look lovely.’_

Aloy let out an anxious laugh, knowing that GAIA meant well, but it did nothing to soothe her nerves. It was like it was the first days of their relationship years ago all over again. The butterflies. The nervousness at seeing him. She felt like a child. Like a silly teenager again. She both hated and loved it at the same time.

She looked down at her light fabric clothing from the facility. She had considered strapping herself back in one of the Carja silk outfits, but she still found them all so constricting. Besides he didn't seem to mind the clothing when he was holding her earlier.

Aloy’s stomach flip flopped thinking about it. The tinkling alert drug her back from these thoughts, as Erend appeared in the tiny box at the bottom corner of the monitor.

“He’s here,” she said more to herself than GAIA. She pressed the admit prompt on the display, and spun immediately to stand from the stool.

She ran her fingers through her hair one last time before the door swung open, and Erend stepped in carrying a paper bag that was emitting the most amazing, mouthwatering smell she had ever experienced.

Erend had definitely cleaned up, freshly shaven so that the lines of his facial hair were crisp, and clothing that almost looked like he might have pressed them. His eyes found hers, and his face split into a broad smile.

“Good evening,” he said, raising the one arm that was free of cargo, and extending it towards her hair. “You took all your braids out”

His fingers met with her hair along the side of her face, twining into it, and automatically Aloy lifted herself up onto the balls of her feet to bring her lips to his. All the while his fingers worked freely through her hair, the bag of food half pressed between them.

Then Erend’s stomach gave a loud grumble, and Aloy laughed against his lips.

“I'm hungry too,” she said, as if he had spoken these thoughts instead of his tummy. “So let's go upstairs. GAIA-“

_‘I will begin fabrication tonight. Have a lovely evening. Goodnight Aloy. Goodnight, Erend.’_

Aloy led the way up the stairs, depositing her Focus as usual, before opening the door. In moments, they were in the safe private respite of her apartment. Erend had sidled past her to the table, sitting down the bag and a jug of something she imagined must be a drink.

She expected him to unpack the food but instead he turned abruptly back to her, now that both of his arms were free, and pulled her tightly against him. She could feel the muscles of his chest through their shirts, her knees felt wobbly as his tongue moved against hers. She gripped his neck with one hand, the other raking fingers through the hair along his jaw.

“I missed you,” she said against his lips, even though she knew it was silly. His fingers in her hair were running along her scalp in a manner she wouldn't have expected to like, but it was making her melt against him.

“I was only gone a couple hours,” he murmured, his nose brushing hers. The arm around her waist tightened, his lips still mere inches from hers.

“I know, but still,” she answered, pulling him back in for another deep kiss.

After this, Erend loosened his grip on her, and slid out one of the chairs for her to sit. She was happy to do so as it would be easier to hide her shaking knees, still breathless. He went to the kitchen and retrieved two glasses from the cabinet, then he sat down into the chair next to her, and began unpacking the bag.

The food came in two individual serving containers made of folded paper of some kind, he parted the top for her and revealed a glossy mess of noodles and vegetables. Then he handed her what appeared to be two thin sticks.

“What are these?” she asked turning them over in her hand.

“You eat with them,” Erend said, giving her a small smile. Then he showed her, holding both sticks somehow in one hand, they looked tiny in his hand unlike hers. Then he pinched a bit of noodles and what appeared to be a slice of pepper between the slightly pointed ends. The noodles dangled below and he had to tilt his head back, lips open to lower the food into his mouth.

Watching him do this had been somehow very… arousing. Between watching his broad hand work the utensils with ease and seeing his lips open so wide.

Erend laughed, and Aloy realized she'd been staring at his lips. He leaned forward and kissed her, she could taste the food on his lips and it was mouth watering.

“Here I'll show you,” he offered, taking her hand, and the two sticks. He gently fit them in place, and with his hands showed her how to move her hand. It took her a couple tries but she managed it, dropping her first bite full of the noodle dish into her mouth. It was truly unlike anything she had ever eaten before. The flavors all complemented each other wonderfully, and the noodles were not nearly as slimy as they looked.

“Good right?” Erend asked, heaving a big bite up and into his mouth.

Aloy nodded as she swallowed. “Yes, but we look ridiculous,” she said with a laugh.

It was fun, like a game to see how much she could pinch between the strange utensils and make into her mouth. She understood the container more, as she held it below to catch any falling food.

The tea Erend had brought was also fantastic. A cold tea with a bit of spice to it, she drank it back after they'd laughed particularly hard at a noodle that had fallen down into her lap.

“Here, let me try something,” Erend said, as she sat down her glass. He pulled a bite of noodles from his container, and leaned towards her. At first she was confused, as his eyes found hers, then she tilted her head back and he fed some of the delicious food to her.

It was strangely sensual, their eyes stuck on one another as he lowered the utensils back into the box and scooped out another bite. Aloy licked her lips this time before parting them to accept the food, and was rewarded by a look of sheer lust from Erend.

Aloy wanted to return the favor. So when he went to do this a third time she placed her hand on his to stop him, and instead picked up her own sticks and box. She wasn't nearly as graceful with it, and they dissolved into laughter as a pepper fell down onto his shirt.

She plucked it off. “It's fine I was going to take this shirt off of you soon anyway,” she said in a soft voice, setting her food back down.

“Oh is that so?” Erend asked, a mixture of surprise and happiness shone in his eyes. He tugged her closer, arms coming around her, lips finding hers.

This kiss began like the others, the slow undulation of lips against one another, the occasional flicking of tongues. The shift started slowly: his hand drifting further down her back, hers fisting in the hair of his mohawk. Until they were kissing more deeply than she thought he'd ever kissed her before, his tongue and hers entwined, their lips glued together.

Aloy's hands began to roam his chest over his shirt, sliding down to pull the hem of it from his trousers. He let out a surprised sound that was half a gasp and half a moan against her lips, pulling back in the chair to allow her to remove his shirt over his head.

She ran her fingers through the curly hair on his chest at last, feeling the carved muscles that ran beneath it. Erend shivered slightly as she did this, watching her with heavily lidded eyes, his breath slow but heavy. The warm butterflies in her stomach were solidifying into a smoldering heat that radiated through her.

“Told you so,” she said, splaying her fingers on his chest as she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek just above the hair that ran along his jaw.

“You still know exactly how to rile me up,” he said, as she ran her nails gently down his chest, fingers brushing the closure to his trousers He gasped, and swooped forward kissing her hungrily, his bare chest pressed against the light cotton of her shirt.

“You don't,” Erend said between kisses, his hands drifting down her sides “Think we should.” His fingers found the bottom of her shirt, and soon she felt fingers on the skin of her back, as he pulled her against him. “Wait. Take.” Aloy captured his lips mid sentence for the briefest moment. “Our time.”

As if she could wait, as the coiling of heat within her aching for release descended into the space between her hips. She could feel his excitement pressed against her hip, held back by his pants.

“I've been waiting,” she kissed his neck and then spoke into his ear, their chests pressed tight together separated only by a thin layer of fabric. “Two years. Wasn't that long enough?”

Erend's breath was heavy against her neck, he kissed her there. Then tilted her back and kissed down the skin along the V neck of her shirt. “Then we should move to the bedroom.” He whispered this against the lowest spot in her shirt, against her cleavage, and Aloy couldn't speak. She nodded mutely.

With the scraping of chair legs, Erend managed to stand, scooping her easily up into his arms completely. She let out a girly laugh, coiling her arm around the back of his neck as he very literally swept her off her feet to carry her in to her bedroom.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've realized that if next chapter is to house proper dirty bits, I'm going to have to Up the rating to E. 
> 
> I feel like most of you will be okay with this. Let me know. If you want. 
> 
> I mean it's getting written regardless. ;-)
> 
> Thanks for reading. This was actually the last day of Novel Writing Month and I clocked in at a little over 67,000 words. Not sure how long this is going to end up being, but I know it isn't done yet.


	24. Been In The Dark For Weeks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Note the increased rating. This chapter is basically porn. 
> 
> Basically.

Erend relished in the way Aloy looked up at him, as he lowered her into the bed. She coiled behind him as he sat on the edge of the mattress to take off his boots, her hand sliding up his back, rubbing in slow arcs across his skin.

He kicked the boots off ass quickly as he could, and when he succeeded and turned to look at her she'd already pushed herself up to kiss him. Aloy’s fingers gripped his neck and back as she drew him into the bed with her, kissing him with as much urgency and hunger as he felt burning within himself.

Aloy was wearing the strange light fabric clothing again, it was thin and as they kissed he began running his hands overtop of them, down her sides, around the curve of her waist, gently squeezing the roundness of her ass. She responded to this by grinding against him, doing her fair share of exploring with her touches. Then her hands vanished from the skin of his back, as she reached between them and began to wriggle out of her own top.

Erend chuckled against her lips, bringing his hands to hers and helping to relieve her of the flowy shirt. Her hair fell from it as it was tossed aside, splaying across the pillows over her head. He couldn't help but take a moment to admire the view, pushing himself up on an elbow to look down at her. Her breasts were speckled with the same freckles she had everywhere else, scattered across her milky white skin the reverse of a starry night sky.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered.

Aloy’s eyes locked on his, a warmth radiating from her gaze. Erend's lips were drawn to hers, and he lowered himself down on top of her gently, pressing his mouth hungrily to hers. He slid slow fingers up from her hip, finding her supple breast, cupping it in his broad hand and squeezing gently. Aloy let out a gasp against his mouth, rolling her hips up against his.

By the forge, she was making it hard to take his time, nibbling on his lower lip as he pulled away, moving to kiss to her neck, still fondling gently her perfect breast. Aloy’s fingers gripped his back, her breath heavy as he kissed down to her other tit.

The moan that escaped her lips when he captured her nipple in his mouth sent a thrill through Erend. He kissed between the two perky breasts, hand roaming again, sliding around her butt to grind their hips together, his erection pressed desperately against the closure of his trousers.

Aloy squirmed delightfully beneath him, as he continued to explore her breasts with his lips. Her nipples stiff, her chest heaving with her increasingly heavy breathing, Erend kissed back up her neck, bringing his lips back to hers. She kissed him deeply, coiling her arms around him and pulling his full weight down on top of her. The skin of her breasts pressed tight against his chest. She hooked one of her legs around his, grinding their groins together, he moaned against her mouth, repeating the motion of his hips she had just caused.

It was worth teasing himself to experience her reactions as he ground in steady firm motions against her, while they both remained clothed from the waist down. She was rolling against him in return, her breathing becoming desperate as he pulled back to look at her face.

“Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?” she asked in between ragged breaths.

He’d moved his lips to her neck again, but now he brought his mouth to her ear, kissing her earlobe as he made a particularly hard grinding motion against her. “I do,” he whispered. “And I think you like it.” He ran his tongue along the curve of her ear, and kissed down her neck.

Aloy let out a whimpering response that he was sure wasn't meant to be a word. He turned this sound into a moan as he bent to suck in one of her nipples, still rolling his bulging groin against her.

“Erend.” She spoke his name like a plea, her fingers gripping his shoulders, her back arching as he nibbled on her breast. His hands had drug down her sides, fingers finding the waistband of her pants, brushing the skin above them, but at the sound of her voice he began to tug them off.

He rolled off of her, bending to slide the pants over her ass, which she lifted off the bed to make easier, watching him with wide pupils. Erend’s breathing increased just looking at her now fully naked form.

“So fucking beautiful,” he said, running a hand down her side, over her hip and down her bare thigh, looking at her like the precious thing she was.

Aloy let out a shaky laugh. “You know you're not so bad yourself,” she said, reaching a hand out to stroke his chest. She looked like she was about to say something else, but he was dragging his fingers up the inside of her thigh. She shivered, head falling back against the pillows.

Erend didn't stop, he watched her face as his fingers felt the curly ginger hair that grew around her nether region. Her hips jerked up, a desperate little moan falling from her lips. Parting her folds gently, he dipped two of his fingers just inside.

It was his turn to let out a gasp at the warmth that met him there, she was practically dripping, his fingers sliding easily over her clit. Her mouth had fallen open in a silent moan, her eyes closed, face relaxed in a look of sheer ecstasy.

For a moment he was sure this must be one of his dreams, she was so wet and so wanting beneath his fingers, there was no way this could be his life. Then he felt her hand sliding along the shaved portion of his head, her fingers twining into his mohawk. She pulled him down into another mind swirling kiss, he increased the speed of his fingers rubbing along her sensitive nib, and was rewarded with a deep moan against his lips.

Throwing caution to the wind, Erend plunged two fingers fully inside of her. Aloy’s mouth fell away from his, her back arching, his name coming out as a moan that echoed around the apartment. Erend slid his thumb over her wet clit, and flexed his two fingers within her, she was tight and warm around them. He was supporting her curving back with his other arm, bending to bring his mouth to one of her erect nipples as he lowered her shoulders back to the mattress.

He'd forgotten what it was like, forgotten how much he truly enjoyed giving her pleasure. Every moan she let escape her mouth, every twinge of her muscles, every twitch beneath his fingers was electrifying. Erend kissed down her stomach, his fingers sliding slowly in and out of her, coated in her warm juices.

Realizing what he was about to do, Aloy propped herself up on her elbows, watching him as he situated himself between her legs, her knees bumping against his shoulders. Erend looked to her, over the rise and fall of her stomach, and gently removed his fingers from within her.

She let out a small gasp as he did so, and watched with a dazed expression as he slid the fingers into his mouth and sucked the moisture off of them. He dipped his face closer to her wet folds, the tip of his nose brushing through red curls, before his tongue lapped into her warmth and he felt her arms collapse beneath her, her shoulders coming down to the mattress with a thud.

Again Aloy moaned his name, and it was like music to his ears. He gripped her hip with one hand to keep her writhing to a minimum as he licked a steady rhythm over her clitoris. Crooking his other elbow, he pressed his two fingers back inside her, triggering another heady moan from her.

Erend was a little proud of how fast he was able to bring her to orgasm, his lips, tongue and fingers working ever more urgently on her as she shook and shuddered, her fingers digging into the sheets on either side of her as she crested over the edge. She tightened around his fingers as she came, and Erend didn’t remove them from her warmth until her body had gone still, breath starting to even out.

He licked them clean again, not realizing she'd opened her eyes, watching him lustfully before reaching for him. Erend yielded to her urgent touches, sliding back up over her naked body until their bare chests were touching again and his lips could once more come down over hers.

  
If she could taste herself on his lips, she didn't seem to mind. She kissed him back hungrily, her hands finding the button closure of his pants between them, struggling to undo them with trembling fingers. Erend moaned into her mouth as she succeeded, and reached beyond his fly, hand coiling firmly but gently around the girth of his hard cock.

Aloy kept him in her hand, gently stroking, as she pushed and pulled at his pants with her other hand to remove them. It took a lot of concentration for him to help her, his erection pulsing against her palm, his eyes threatening to roll back into his own head with each stroke of her hand over his length.

“Shit Aloy,” he moaned against the curve of her neck, damp with sweat her long red hair clinging to her skin. He kicked his pants off the rest of the way, their naked bodies rubbing against one another, all the while she allowed her hand to be wedged between them, still toying with his erection.

“I want you to feel as good as you make me feel,” she breathed. She wiggled her hips below his, and the fire in Erend’s chest seemed to double in size. He needed to be inside her, an urge so strong and primal it surprised him.

Erend braced an arm on the mattress at her shoulder, lifting himself up over top of her, meeting her eyes. She did a particular vigorous tug, and he felt like he might go cross eyed. Aloy shifted beneath him, spreading her legs, her hips twitching, knocking her hand where it held his cock.

She helped him angle himself, her fingers loosening only when the head of his penis slid between her wet folds. They moaned together as he filled her, her walls stretching tightly around his hard erection.

“There's no way anything I do to you feels as good as this,” he whispered, starting slow, easing himself deeper and then retreating, taking his time to enjoy the feeling of her wrapped warm around him.

Aloy’s arms slid around his sides, desperate fingers digging into his back as he began making love to her. He found one of her perky breasts, palming it gently, kissing down her neck, slowly rocking their hips together.

  
—————-

Aloy’s mind was little more than a pleasurable mush, her body experiencing increasingly strong waves of pleasure with each of Erend's steady movements within her. As desperately as she'd wanted him, she had been pleasantly surprised at how much time he'd taken with things tonight.

Now he was even taking his time with this, his hips moving in a slow rocking motion, like a boat on water, he pushed a little deeper with each motion, until he was hitting a spot that made her gasp his name, clinging to him as if she was afraid she might float away.

“There,” she moaned, she felt her own hair between the side of her face and the pillow beneath her as she rolled her head in pleasure against it.

“Oh, I remember,” Erend whispered against the swell of her breast. He pulled his hips back and then snapped them into hers, hitting the spot again. Aloy had long given up on attempting to control the sounds she was making, and a particularly guttural moan made it out as he did this.

His lips found hers, and he kissed her hard, thrusting into her with increasing speed. He kept the motion steady, relentlessly hitting the spot inside her, even as he separated their torsos, hands finding the backs of her knees, holding her legs wide.

“Stop me if I hurt you,” he practically moaned.

Erend had her nearly bent in half, fucking her with increasing speed and pressure, their skin slapping together.

“Don't stop,” Aloy begged, looking up into his eyes. She couldn't reach him in this position, with his elbows crooked behind her legs, his rough hands wrapped around her thighs, gripping them desperately. Instead she brought her hands up to her own breasts, as they bounced with each of his motions. She pressed them together, squeezing them.

“Holy shit.” The words tumbled from his mouth as he watched her do this, and somehow he went even harder, pounding into her faster, she felt that warm tension within her building, moaning his name.

Time blurred, it could have been seconds or it could have been hours. Her thighs felt like jelly, she knew she'd be feeling this in the morning and that it would be worth it.

“Almost, there,” she gasped, as the head of his cock continued to hit the spot that sent so much electricity and pleasure through her.

Erend let out a growl, closing his eyes and striking a feverish steady rhythm into her, his mohawked head bobbing. Aloy felt like a strap stretched tight, about to break. Her eyelids clamped closed as she came, the heat inside her coming to a head for a second time that night.

“Ohhh, Erend,” she moaned, feeling herself tighten around his cock, his rhythm went uneven, hips twitching as he moaned her name back. She could feel him pulsing within her, his shoulders sagging with the release.

A few moments later he lowered her legs with shaking fingers, their hips still braced together as his extended a trembling hand to brush sweaty hair from her face. The look in his eyes was a look she remembered well, a look she had thought of on lonely nights, curling up to sleep in her compartment at the facility.

“I think we found yet another thing memories didn't do justice,” Aloy said, her voice cracking slightly, breathing heavy.

“Worth the two year wait I hope,” he said in a playful voice.

Erend slid his softening length from within her, rolling off of her to flop down on his back next to her. His chest rose and fell rapidly, arm extended out reaching for her.

Aloy was already sidling up against his side. “Very worth it,” she answered. She felt like she had just fallen to pieces, and needed to anchor herself against the firmness of his chest. His arm wound tight around her back and he crooked his neck to kiss her.

They lie there for a long while, Aloy’s cheek pressed against his warm chest as their breathing evened out.

“Are you as thirsty as I am?” he asked, his breath in her hair.

She hadn't realized she was until he said this. “The tea,” she murmured. Aloy gently disentangled herself from him, rolling from the bed to walk naked to the kitchen table and retrieve the still half full jug of spiced tea Erend had brought with dinner.

He was watching her as she returned, having tugged the silk blankets over his legs, smiling as his eyes roved her naked frame.

“Have I told you how beautiful you are?” he asked.

Aloy laughed, holding out the jug for him to take before slipping back into the bed with him. “You mentioned yes,” she said. Erend sat up, blankets pooling at his waist. He drank back a long sip of tea. “And I didn't get to properly return the compliment.” She ran her fingers through the hair of his carved chest.

Erend held he jug out to her, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Not with words no,” he said with a sly smile. “I think you showed me well enough in other ways.”

“So long as you know,” she said, before bringing the jug to her lips. The tea was soothing to her dry throat, and she drank down nearly as much as Erend had before returning it to him. “You can finish it.”

He did, then sat the jug on the floor alongside the end of the bed. Aloy let him pull her down into the bed with him, fumbling with the covers to get beneath them. He pulled her bare back against his chest, spooning her from behind, helping her shift the silk blankets tighter over them both.

Erend mumbled something in a sleepy voice against the back of her neck, his arm draped across her side tightening, his hand finding hers, fingers winding between one another.

“I didn't quite catch that,” she said, snuggling against him, squeezing his hand back.

“Said that I missed this,” he repeated, pressing his face into her hair, kissing her neck.

Aloy hummed, smiling and allowing her eyelids to flutter closed. “Me too.”

They fell into a comfortable and satisfied silence after that. His breath on her neck slowing, Aloy felt his body relaxing behind her.

To say she was happy with how the evening had gone would have been an understatement. Erend had been just as attentive and thorough of a lover as she had remembered, and yet it had somehow been much more than any of the times they'd been together before.

Two years of separation perhaps she just appreciated it all the more. Erend let out a soft snore into her hair, he'd tuckered himself out. She smiled, wondering if he'd stay the night again tomorrow night.

How she hoped he would.

Aloy let out a long sigh of contentment, feeling safe and secure in his arms. Sleep was slow to come, but she found she didn't mind, breathing in his scent.

It had been a perfect night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *wipes sweat from brow*
> 
> Hope that was worth the month long wait for y'all. ;-)
> 
> Thanks for reading and a special thanks to my commenters.


	25. And I've Realized

Spent from the evenings activities, Aloy slept like the dead. Still, she managed to awake before Erend. As consciousness slowly seeped in, she became aware of two things. First, she was still completely naked. Second, so was he. Not only that, but despite still being asleep, he was aroused, his penis hard and pressed between them.

She was mildly ashamed this was all it took, her awareness of it, to turn her on also. Her mind was buzzing with the memories of the night before, and she wanted more.

Aloy pressed her body back into his, running a hand down his arm where it lie across her. She could feel him begin to stir, nuzzling into the back of her neck. She rolled her hips slightly, pressing her bare ass back into him, the stiffness of his dick pinned still between them.

Erend let out a little grunt, his arm tightening around her, his hips pushing back against hers. He began kissing her neck, the tickle of his facial hair along her skin sent tingles through her. She hummed, rubbing his hard cock with her backside again.

He didn't speak, as his kisses became more and more sensual, tongue sliding along the curve of her neck. His hand found one of her bare breast, fondling it first gently, then with increased urgency as he continued to grind against her from behind.

Aloy’s breathing was already coming in heavy gasps, as his hand released her tit, running down her bare belly, calloused fingers brushing through the curly red hair between her legs. Then he buried them inside her, sliding them over her sensitive clit, making Aloy moan and squirm against him.

Erend let out a growl of sorts, seemingly aroused even further at feeling how wet she was. He toyed with her for a few moments, until a particularly hard roll of her hips against his seemed to drive him over the edge.

Flinging the covers from them, Erend heaved himself up onto his knees, and with surprising ease flipped her over onto her front, her face and shoulders pressing into the pillows. His fingers wrapped around her hips, pulling them up to a good height, she could feel his erect cock against her rear again, and let out a soft moan. He ran one hand over the roundness of her ass cheek, before giving it a playful smack that made her gasp.

Aloy had just managed to get herself up on her elbows when Erend slid his length into her wetness, she moaned, nearly falling face first into the pillows once more. Unlike the previous night, Erend didn't take his time, instead he began to fuck her relentlessly, his hips smacking against her ass as he plunged himself hard and deep into her.

The grunts and growls he made were positively animalistic, his grip on her hips was tight, nearly painful, but it only added to the rise of tension within her. She let out a particularly loud moan as he hit her spot, arching her spine and bouncing back into his thrusts.

Erend spanked her again, never losing rhythm, Aloy’s mind was a swirl of pleasure, the heat coiled in her groin had reached a roaring fire, tendrils of it sparking electricity through her body. The pounding of him inside against her most sensitive spot left her moaning in staccato gasps.

Her arms finally did give out, as her orgasm rolled over her, her exclamation of his name muffled in the pillows. He smacked her ass again, and let out a moan of his own, losing his steady rhythm as he too reached his peak, spending himself inside her.

Silence fell aside from their labored breathing, Erend made no moves to retreat from her, running his hands over her backside. Aloy lifted herself back up onto her arms, turning her head to look at him over her shoulder.

He smiled at her. “Good morning,” he breathed, his penis still buried in her, slowly losing its stiffness.

“Good morning,” she said with a small laugh.

Erend slid himself gently from her, falling to the mattress next to her. “I hope that was okay,” he said, opening his arms as she rolled over into them.

“I’d say it was a bit better than okay,” Aloy said, her face nuzzled in his neck, enjoying his arms wrapped firmly around her, his hands roaming her naked back.

Laughing, Erend gave her a gentle squeeze. “I meant I hope I wasn't too… rough,” he said, kissing her forehead, running fingers gently through her hair.

“I think you'll find I'm very sturdy and can handle some roughness,” she said, cuddling against him. “I wish you didn't have work today.”

Erend groaned as if only just remembering, holding her ever tighter. “Me too.”

They lay for a while, pretending he didn’t need to get moving. Aloy couldn’t bring herself to roll away. His fingers were in her hair, one hand still gently rubbing her back. She enjoyed how quickly he’d gone from ravenous to gentle. She pulled back from his chest just far enough to look up into his face.

Erend smiled, as she cupped his cheek with her palm, and ran a thumb over the hair above his lips. “Damn, I wish I could stay here all day,” he said, pulling her in for a tender kiss.

“If you give me a few minutes in the washroom, you can have it to bathe,” Aloy said, disentangling herself from him. In spite of his attempts to hold her there, she slid lithely through his arms, stepping from the bed.

She glanced to him over her shoulder, his eyes were on her naked rear. Aloy gave her hips a little wiggle, her hair swinging and tickling her lower back, before pushing open the washroom door. She could hear Erend chuckling at this before the door was closed again and she set to washing up.

—————-

Erend was to a certain extent still in disbelief, as he sat waist deep in the warm water of the bath Aloy had drawn for him. To think when he’d left his own home to pick up dinner, he’d been unsure if he’d even get to spend the night let alone get to make love to her not once, but twice. His mind was full of images of her, naked beneath him, as he lathered soap into his mohawk.

He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy, it had to have been two years prior. Could they genuinely get back there? he wondered as he ducked fully beneath the water in the tub to rinse his hair.

If someone had asked him a week prior, he would have said there was no way. But Erend was busy being a complete idiot a week ago, wasting time they could have spent together being stubborn.

Erend stepped from the bath, unplugging the drain so that the water began to slosh as the level lowered. He pat himself semi-dry before returning to the main apartment, clothed only in a towel around his waist.

He was mildly disappointed to find it empty, his clothing and armor lying out on the made bed. The sky beyond the kitchen window was lightening, as Erend dressed quickly, knowing he would need to be leaving soon.

Aloy was seated on her stool, back in her light sleeping clothes, one leg tucked up to her chest, her chin resting on her knee as she gazed at the monitors. She didn’t look up as he descended the stairs, probably because she couldn’t hear his footsteps over the whirring and humming of the machine set up against the wall opposite the combat simulator.

“Hey!” she said, spotting him when he reached the foot of the stairs. “GAIA has breakfast waiting for you in the food synthesizer.”

Some of his confusion at this statement must have shown on his face, because Aloy dropped her leg to the floor and rose up from the stool. She ushered him to the counter along the wall that housed a couple of devices Erend couldn’t identify. One had a swinging glass door that Aloy opened to reveal a pastry on a small plate, and a steaming cup of tea.

“How do you think I fed myself living in ruins?” She asked. “You can sit at the console. I’ve really got to get some additional seating in here.”

Erend carried the hot cup carefully, sinking down onto the stool. Aloy placed the small plate in front of him, and ran a hand down his mohawk before kissing his cheek.

_‘Good morning, Erend. It sounded like you had a good night.’_

He nearly spilled the hot tea over himself. “GAIA!” Aloy chastised, though there was a tone of amusement in her voice. She’d gone to the work table, fiddling with something on her spear.

“Good morning, GAIA,” he said, taking a sip of the tea and setting it safely on the desk top. Then, on a whim, he added. “And yes, it was lovely.”

Aloy laughed behind him. Erend was about to turn, to ask her what the massive machine next to her was doing to produce so much noise, when the monitor flashed, and a “DOOR PROXIMITY ALERT” popped up on the screen.

“Looks like Gareth is here,” Aloy said, suddenly right at his shoulder, leaning slightly against it from behind to look closer at the monitor. She reached an arm past him, pressing the little alert box. “In case you ever need to know, that's how you answer the door.”

“I should have known going to your place was a waste of time,” Gareth’s voice said.

Aloy’s weight left Erend’s shoulder and he found he missed it. She'd gone to greet his fellow Vanguard. “Good morning, Gareth,” she said, cheerily.

“Good morning, Aloy,” Gareth said. “What the hell is that thing doing that’s so loud?”

Erend had been eating the croissant that GAIA had by some magic made for him, it was warm and buttery and he was still chewing the last bite as he turned to see Gareth gesturing to the machine.

“Oh, making my new board,” Aloy said, as if this should have been obvious.

Gareth had one of his gleeful looks on his face, his eyebrows arched as he met the Captain’s eyes. “You ready?” he asked.

Erend had been expecting a jab, or a joke. “Sure, we can roll,” he said, taking one last sip of the tea before standing up from the stool. Aloy gave him a kiss on the cheek as she resumed her seat, and the two Vanguard headed for the front door.

Gareth already had it held open for him before Erend came to his senses. He held up a single gloved finger to his friend to silently ask him to wait, before doubling back to the console.

Aloy was already back to looking at a monitor full of information that was gibberish to him, Erend placed a hand on her shoulder and slowly turned the stool so she was facing him again. She smiled, eyes meeting his. “Yes?”

Erend gently tucked some of her hair behind her ear, and asked. “Want me to pick up dinner again tonight?”

She took in a deep breath and let it out in a happy sigh. “Sounds great. I'll see you later.”

They kissed, a quick peck that somehow felt just as significant as the deepest of kisses. Then Erend left her to her data, and slipped out the door.

“So, Cap, how’s it going?” Gareth asked, having the decency to wait until they were off her block to ask.

Erend felt the smile creep over his face involuntarily, felt the slight red flush of his cheeks. He glanced to his friend as they walked, unable to do anything but grin like a fool.

“Holy shit, that well?” Gareth pounded on the leather pad that was cinched over Erend’s left bicep. “I told you. I knew if you'd just give her a chance.”

“Shut up, you were right,” Erend said laughing. “Is that what you want to hear right now?”

“No,” Gareth said, stopping him as they passed in front of the great elevators. “I want to hear details.”

“Ohhh no no no,” Erend said, waving his hands and sidestepping his friend. “You know enough and can put together the rest. No details from this guy. A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell.”

Erend led their way on towards the Palace for the morning meeting. Gareth fell back into step next to him. “It wasn't the kissing I wanted details on,” he said in a playful voice.

They laughed together then, as their armored boots met with the bridge off of the Mesa.

—————-

_‘Fabrication cycle 100%.’_

Aloy was already on her feet, leaving the stool to spin in her wake as she stood. It was early afternoon now, and she'd had what she would consider a productive morning. She'd reviewed machine and cauldron production and recycling rates with GAIA, designed a chair for the workshop, taken a bath, and squeezed herself into the Shield-Weaver armor in preparation for her afternoon test flight.

Now, at last, the new hover board was done. The servo arm had already whirred into motion, reaching into the central forge of the fabricator, bringing the freshly minted device to the work table.

She hastily cleared her spear, hooking it to her back where it belonged, as the arm gently placed the board on the table.

_‘Powering on.’_

Blue light emanated from the repulsors on the underside of the board, lifting it to hover at chest height for Aloy above her work table. The new board had metal hand holds on all sides, she reached out and gripped one, feeling the cool smooth metal under her fingers.

“Well she looks good,” Aloy said, uncoiling her fingers from the bar. “I assume you're already running diagnostics.”

_‘You assume correctly. Diagnostics complete. Stand back I'm going to run some test maneuvers.’_

Aloy retreated to the stairs, as the board whizzed around the work shop here and there. It looked fantastic, taking precise turns, switching directions smoothly. She was itching to get flying on it.

_‘Test complete. Now I don't normally like to compliment myself but I think it turned out wonderfully.’_

“So it's my turn?” Aloy asked, hopping down the last couple steps, the metal additions to her boots clanking on the wood floor.

_‘It is. You are go for test flight.’_

The board came down to calf height, and Aloy stepped onto it easily, her feet locking into place in one of now three optional positions she could step into. She glided in a small circle around the open area of the shop, marveling at how different this was from the first time she'd tried to mount a board inside.

“Open the bay window,” Aloy said, making another tight turn alongside the open glass door for the combat simulator. The panes to the window slid away, and Aloy rose, flying close over the quiet fabricator and out the window.

The valley floor opened up far beneath her, wind whipping her hair behind her, as Aloy let the thrill of flying take hold of her. The board responded intuitively to her tilts in weight, even better than it's predecessor. She took a long slow dive over the Maizelands until she was so low her board nearly skimmed the top of the corn stalks as she flew over.

“Don't suppose you have any more good flying music,” Aloy said, rising to fly along the river to the East, soaring over a pair of blue glowing Snapmaws sunbathing on the muddy bank.

GAIA didn't answer, but soon the sound of guitar was kicking up in Aloy’s ear, drums tapping out a peppy beat, and a raspy male voice singing. At first she wasn't sure what to make of it, as she rose to turn and fly over the dense forest. Then the chorus kicked in.

“You don't know, what we can find. Why don't you come with me little girl, on a magic carpet ride?” The slightly rough voice sang. “You don't know, what we can see. Why don't you tell your dreams to me? Fantasy will set you free.”

Aloy breathed in the scent of the forest letting the words wash over her.

“Close your eyes girl, look inside girl, let the sound take you awaaaaaay.”

For some reason she did it, closing her eyes for a moment and just flying, taking in the feel of the wind on her face, the sound of it roaring along with the guitars and drums howled in her ears.

She thought of Erend. The way he looked at her before he’d kissed her goodbye. Her heart fluttered in her chest and she knew it had nothing to do with flying.

Opening her eyes, Aloy did a spiraling turn in the air, and doubled her flight back towards Meridian. She took the board for a spin up around the Spire, even stepping off on the Alight for a while and testing some mounts using the bars instead of stepping on at calf height.

The sun was starting to fall ever lower as she flew back out over the valley.

_‘So how do you feel about the mark III’s flight handling?’_

“It handles perfectly,” Aloy said. “How are the batteries holding up?” She eased her way back towards the high sky line of Meridian, raising the board up towards her already open workshop window.

_‘Power level ninety five percent. Sustained flight consumption is now fully optimized.’_

“That's excellent news,” Aloy said, bending her knees as she soared through the window. “We will have to do some shield testing, then we can work out where to test the weapons.”

She stepped off the board, and it flew up to land gently on the worktable before cutting power.

“Now, I'm going to get out of this wretched armor,” Aloy said, already prying off the obtrusive shoulder pieces, and making steps towards the stairs. “After all, I've got a date.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I asked myself after the first scene if this was too much smut too fast. 
> 
> Then I did it anyway. }:-)
> 
> Thanks for continuing to read. I've outlined he next bit of this and it's gonna be a bit of a ride on a hover board. Buckle up. 
> 
> (Wait hover boards don't have seat belts. You get me though.)


	26. You're All I Need

“This sandwich is delicious,” Aloy said.

Erend had to finish chewing and swallowing a bite of his own to answer. “Right? It's one of my favorite spots to grab lunch when I'm on rounds,” he said, looking down at her where she sat leaning up against his shoulder.

They were sitting up in her bed, backs against the wall, eating their dinner finally. Aloy was clad only in his striped shirt, and he had to admit it looked far better on her than it ever looked on him. She smiled, lowering the sandwich and tilting her head up to his so that he could kiss her.

“It's a good thing they were meant to be eaten cold,” Aloy said in a playful voice, after he'd returned to his food.

He nearly choked on it laughing. Erend was clad only in his light linen shorts that he usually wore beneath his trousers, and the silk covers. They'd made it three steps into the apartment before they were kissing and attempting to free each other of the clothing they were wearing. There was a trail of Vanguard armor pieces and Carja silks from the kitchen table to the bed.

It was like the beginning of their relationship all over again. The same rush of need the moment they saw each other. The same inability to keep their hands off one another. Even now, as he finished his sandwich, he snaked an arm behind her, hand sliding along her hip to scoot her closer to him.

“How was your day?” Aloy asked, before taking another bite. She still had a good third of her sandwich left, having not inhaled hers like Erend had.

What could he say, he’d worked up a hunger.

“Not bad, not bad. Even if Gareth gave me shit all day,” Erend answered. Aloy giggled, covering her mouth as she still had food in it. “Oh I am sure you won’t be surprised to hear that he and nearly everyone had something to say about what a good MOOD I was in.”

“I was in a pretty good mood today too,” she said, holding out the last couple bites of her sandwich, which he took. “Can’t imagine why.”

Aloy leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. Removing the food wrapper from his lap, she stood from the bed to go throw both in the kitchen bin. As she bent to do so, Erend enjoyed the way the hem of his shirt rode up the back of her freckled thighs.

“How did your test flight go?” he asked, as she returned to him. Aloy let him tuck her under his arm, as she slid her legs beneath the covers next to his.

“Really well. New board handles beautifully,” she said, sounding excited. “I thought about flying by to see you on your rounds, but wasn't sure if you wanted me to drop by in front of your men.”

Aloy was running fingers through her long hair, having pulled it all in front of her shoulder, the ends of it in her lap.

“Why would I mind that?” Erend asked, and was rewarded with feeling her posture relax against him. “Besides the guys took one look at the goofy smile on my face today and knew we were back together.”

The statement was out of his mouth before he had a chance to second guess himself. Aloy’s fingers abruptly stopped combing through her hair, and Erend wondered if perhaps he had assumed too much.

“I mean, that is if we are back together,” Erend began to ramble, attempting to undo any damage he might have just done. “I mean we haven't actually discussed. I didn't intend to just assume.”

Aloy squirmed from under his arm, twisting her legs to turn and look at him. The knot that had flared in his stomach immediately relaxed at the sweet, kind smile on her face. He leaned his head against the palm of her hand, as it came up to his face.

“Relax, you're right, we haven't discussed it,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “But we’re discussing it now, and I think it's safe to say we are. Back together I mean.”

Erend couldn't help but smile, heart soaring. Aloy leaned forward and kissed him, smiling against his lips herself.

“I just remembered something,” Erend said, as she leaned up against him, his hands sliding down her sides.

“Oh, what’s that?” She asked this practically in his ear as they were cheek to cheek now.

“You’re ticklish.”

Her reaction was immediately to attempt to escape. “NO!” she gasped, failing to squirm from within his arms as he curled his fingers and began tickling up the curve of her waist.

They weren't even remotely sitting up now. Aloy had ended up on her back, sending the covers in disarray as she twisted and giggled, unable to escape his strong fingers, especially after he had practically rolled on top of her. Her red hair was strewn across the pillows, her bare legs kicking, her arms half-heartedly pushing against his bare chest in protest.

“Erend!” She pleaded between uncontrollable laughs, her breath now heavy.

He only stopped because he was tiring himself out in the process.

“I was okay,” Aloy breathed, as he settled next to her. “With you not remembering that.”

“I bet you were,” Erend said in a teasing voice, propping himself up on his arm to look down at her where she lie next to him.

Aloy pouted up at him. “It’s not fair, you aren’t even a little bit ticklish.”

Erend couldn’t help but kiss her. The way she pushed out her bottom lip when she pouted was cute. Between that and the way her cleavage was peaking out of the open buttons at the top of his shirt he couldn’t not kiss her.

“You’ve got the flying demo with Avad at the end of the week, right?” Erend asked, as their lips separated.

“Yeah, why?” Aloy asked, smiling as he ran slow fingers down her hair line and into her hair.

“I’m off duty for two days after that,” he said. “And I thought maybe you’d like to come spend a night or two at my place. Not that I don’t love staying here, and intend to spend every night between now and then here.”

Aloy laughed. “Oh, you do, do you?”

“That didn’t sound like an objection to me,” Erend said, still running fingers through her hair. “Anyway, I figure if we stayed at my place I could cook for us, like I used to.”

Eyes lighting up, Aloy reached up, running her fingers through his mohawk. “Can you make that pepper and turkey stuff you used to always make?”

“You mean the dish I always made because it was your favorite?” Erend sank down next to her, she turned fluidly as he did this so she was still facing him. “I think I can arrange that.”

“Then I’d love to,” Aloy said, allowing herself to be pulled tightly into his arms, his lips finding hers in a deep kiss.

—————-

Over the next few days Erend proved true to his word, spending every night in Aloy’s apartment above her workshop. Aloy loved it. They'd fallen quickly onto a comfortable rhythm and though it had been days she already felt immensely comfortable having him so near every evening and morning.

The day of the flight demo dawned bright and clear, perfect conditions. Aloy was still dozing in the bed, she stretched her naked body beneath the sheets. Erend had gone to bathe and suit up for duty but she was in no hurry to roll out from beneath the silk covers.

She rolled over as she heard the washroom door creak open, Erend stepping out with his trousers already on, rubbing a towel over his hair and bare chest. His eyes found hers from the kitchen, a smile playing across his face.

“Morning,” he said, then he draped the towel over the back of the chair and set to getting dressed fully.

“Good morning,” Aloy returned, sitting up and letting the covers fall from her. Erend paused in tucking in his shirt, his eyes falling to her bare breasts. Ignoring this, Aloy swung her legs from the bed.

She walked naked past him and on into the washroom enjoying the covetous look he gave her. As soon as the door closed, Aloy began running the sink, letting the water flow warm, imagining him scrambling to dress now that she was no longer distracting him.

Aloy washed up quickly, retrieving a clean towel to wrap around herself before returning to the main apartment. Erend was just shouldering his weapon, fully armored and ready for work.

“I'll see you at the demo?” Aloy asked, holding the towel around her with one hand as she closed the distance between them.

Erend nodded. “And my place tonight?”

Aloy smiled, rising up on the balls of her bare feet to kiss him. “Looking forward to it,” she said as she sank back down, stepping aside to let him leave. He planted one last kiss on her forehead before going.

“Me too,” he said, over his shoulder as he opened the apartment door. “See you later.”

She heard the door click closed behind her as she reached the bedroom and allowed the towel to fall off of her to the floor. It took a quarter of an hour to slither herself into the complete Shield-Weaver armor. Once it was powered on, hexagonal shields flickering up and down her torso, Aloy left the apartment, snagging her Focus off the ledge at the top of the stairs as she went.

_‘Good morning, Aloy. Your breakfast will be ready momentarily. Hover board power at 95% it will need less than an hour to finish charging.’_

They'd done some extensive shield testing the day before, draining the batteries almost completely. Aloy waited for the ding of the food synthesizer, retrieving from it a blueberry muffin and a steaming cup of tea.

“I won't need it for the morning,” Aloy said, sliding onto the stool, and setting her breakfast on the desk top in front of the monitors. “What’s the weather looking like for this afternoon?”

_‘Weather conditions will be fair. Partly cloudy with a high of sixty seven degrees. Winds from the North East won't exceed five miles per hour.’_

Aloy was eating her muffin by pulling chunks of it off of the top with her fingers and popping them into her mouth, nodding as this information was delivered to her. She washed the pastry down with tea.

“Sounds like perfect conditions,” she said, before taking another sip. “I've got a visit to pay before though.”

Once she was finished eating, Aloy left the workshop on foot, making her way through the streets of Meridian to the Hunter’s Lodge. She hadn't stepped foot in the establishment in years, and yet two Thrushes looked up as she arrived and greeted her by name.

Aloy took a moment to look up at the hulking machine that hung from the ceiling. Red maw, the trophy that has won Talanah her title of Sun-Hawk. Aloy had helped down the machine at her friend’s side what seemed like eons ago.

That same friend stood at the railing one floor up, her dark eyes fixed on Aloy as she walked the curved stair case.

“Here I thought you'd forgotten your promise to stop by sometime,” Talanah said in lieu of a greeting. She extended one of her ornately armored arms to indicate they should step out onto the balcony for more privacy.

The balcony had a spectacular view of the valley below, the morning sun playing off the canyon walls.

“I meant to come by sooner,” Aloy said, as they fell into place shoulder to shoulder at the rail, looking out over the edge of the mesa.

“From what I hear you've been busy,” Talanah said, a smile twitching onto her dark lips.

Aloy blushed, immediately thinking that this statement implied she'd been busy with Erend. Fortunately before she managed to formulate something to say to this, Talanah pressed on.

“Flying in to dangerous situations to bail out the Vanguard,” she said. “Had a few of Erend’s men in here telling tales of your heroics.”

“Ohhh, that,” Aloy blurted out, laughing at herself.

Talanah turned, hitching a silk clad hip onto the rail, and fixing Aloy with a curious look. “What did you think I meant?”

Aloy decided to brush past this query. “Actually, that's why I'm here,” she said. “The flying part I mean.”

This seemed to work, Talanah perked up, her ponytail swishing. “So that wasn't an exaggeration? You were actually flying?”

“I was,” Aloy said. “In fact I'm going to do a flying demonstration for the Sun King this afternoon up on the Alight. I thought you might want to attend.”

The smile Talanah gave the Nora, lips framed in the golden straps that held on the Sun-Hawk’s ornate headdress, told Aloy just how right she'd been.

—————-

For most people, taking a walk up to the Alight was simple. This was significantly less so if you are, say, the Sun-King. Erend had to solve some logistical problems to make the demonstration a possibility, securing the route up and ensuring the Alight was kept clear of the public.

He'd had Vanguard up there all day, and was himself to escort the King’s party.

The King’s party turned out to include his pregnant wife, and his preteen little brother, Itamen. Erend hadn't expected this, and had to be careful not to draw any of the Queen’s ire as the party got underway.

Fortunately she glued herself to her husband’s side, and Erend was able to put his back to them, leading the way.

As was the King’s request they arrived early up on the Alight, cresting the top of the trail a good half hour before Aloy had requested. She was, as expected, nowhere to be found. Fortunately neither were any stray citizens.

Vanguard were posted at every entrance around the mesa, they all stood at attention as they saw Erend was looking over them to ensure they were in place. Avad and Natorah set to strolling about the area, he could hear them talking about how nice the day was. The others milled around the center of the sun mosaic set into the ground, the Spire glittering blue above them.

“Captain! Captain!”

Erend drug his eyes around, one of the guards at the end of the path was waving him over. Sparing the King’s party one last check over his shoulder, Erend trotted the distance back to the trail. He was half way there when he spotted Talanah, arms crossed over her armored chest, glaring at the Vanguard blocking her way.

“It's okay, Elof,” Erend said, slowing his gait. “Let her through, Aloy’s expecting her.”

“As I said,” Talanah hissed, unfolding her arms and stalking past Elof. She didn't pause or hesitate as she passed Erend, leaving him to scramble to catch up. “You knew I was coming?”

“Aloy mentioned she was inviting you, yes,” Erend answered, as they passed the crumbling battlement walls.

Talanah stepped up onto the stone dais that was the sun mosaic, eyes roving those gathered there. “So you two are speaking again?”

Erend resisted the urge to tell her they had been doing a whole hell of a lot more than just speaking. Instead he simply nodded. Talanah opened her mouth to talk, but Itamen’s excited voice rang out over the Alight.

He was pointing to the sky, and Talanah was immediately distracted, as Aloy flew in from the direction of Meridian, her armor glowing, hair flowing behind her.

Talanah wasn't the only one distracted. Erend felt his heart beat just a tick faster as he watched the way Aloy’s thighs flexed and moved, steering the board in slow curving arcs. She flew a loop around the onlookers, seeming to enjoy the way they all rotated in unison to follow her movements.

The afternoon sun shone off her hair, as she stepped off the board at the base of the Spire, allowing everyone to come to her from across the circle.

“Good afternoon,” she greeted. The board hovered at her shoulder, bouncing slightly up and down, she pointed at it unnecessarily. “This, is the third iteration of my hover board prototype. I still have some testing to do on it, but today I'm going to just show you how she flies.”

The gathered audience seemed to be speechless, Aloy’s eyes found Erend’s overtop of Itamen’s head. She smiled, then with a swift motion she reached up and seized one of the metal handles that lined the edges of the hover board.

It took off at top speed, up and away, with Aloy dangling beneath it from one arm. Erend held his breath as she vaulted up on top of the board far above their heads, turning it on the spot and circling the Spire in tight spirals up to the top.

Even Erend who had seen her fly before found himself watching slack jawed as she soared here and there around the Alight. She even showed off some impressive mounts and dismounts off of the battlement walls.

When she finally saw fit to return to the earth, she was greeted with hearty applause. Her breath was heavy, and Erend felt a small zing of electricity at the way her chest rose and fell rapidly in the tight black tunic she wore under the powered armor.

“Magnificent,” Avad said. “Simply magnificent. Wasn't it Natorah?”

Erend tried not to chuckle at the awkward look on Aloy’s face as she attempted to make small talk with the King and his wife.

Talanah fell in at the Captain’s shoulder as he waited. “You're staring,” she said, matter of factly.

Aloy picked the perfect moment to look over, eyes finding his swiftly, smiling to him across the distance and people between them. Talanah saw this, turning from one to another, lips forming a small oh of understanding.

“I think you'll find she doesn't mind,” Erend said, running a hand down his mohawk, and failing to hide his own smile.

Talanah laughed then, loud enough that a couple of the Vanguard looked over. “So THAT’S what she thought I meant when I said I’d heard she'd been busy,” she said, sounding gleeful. “She thought I was talking about you. Have you and Aloy been busy, Captain?”

Erend somehow managed to choke on his own spit as he swallowed, coughing. He felt the warm flush spread from behind his facial hair across his cheeks. He stood there blushing furiously unable to think of a single thing to say.

“This has just been the best day,” Talanah practically cooed, then she left him, trotting off to catch Aloy as she broke away from the King.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, had trouble getting it to flow right. Heck not entirely sure it flows right now but it's done and I'm posting it. 
> 
> Some chapters are just like that. Next couple chapters should flow better as I've had them in mind for a while. 
> 
> Hopefully. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and a special thanks to my commenters!


	27. I Hope That I'm Not

Aloy turned to see Talanah trotting eagerly over across the mosaic tiles beneath their feet. Her dark ponytail glinted in the afternoon sun. Beyond her Erend was looking flustered in the Sun Hawk’s wake.

“That looked fun,” Talanah said. “I had no idea you could be so… acrobatic.”

“I’ve kept myself in shape,” Aloy said. “Glad you could make it.”

Talanah was saving her, whether intentionally or not, looping an arm through Aloy’s and walking her away from the King and his party of onlookers. The board was following behind them, making its usual whirring and buzzing sounds.

“I would love to try it myself,” the Sun Hawk said, eying it over her shoulder. “I understand of course if you’d prefer I didn’t.”

Aloy considered this, as they walked to the edge of the circle, stepping off the dais. She hadn't ever actually considered letting anyone else try out any of the devices she built, and yet realized it was naive to have not seen the request coming.

_‘I do believe that Talanah is of the proper build. If you would like I could guide her in a test flight.’_

GAIA’s voice cut across Aloy’s thoughts as they came to a halt at the battlement walls. The group of onlookers seemed to be gathering to leave, she spared this the briefest of looks before turning back to Talanah.

The Carja woman was fit, her midriff showing beneath the finest blazon they made. She stood up straight, pressing her dark lips together as she waited for some sort of response.

“How’s your balance?” Aloy asked. She knelt and began to pop off the strapped on magnets from the bottom of her boots

Talanah had lit up like the sun. “I have excellent balance,” she insisted. “And I took note of the way you were shifting your weight, that's how you guide it?”

Aloy rose back to her full height, holding out the accessories to her friend to take. “It is, GAIA is going to help you get oriented,” Aloy said. “But first you have to put these on, they'll keep you on the board.”

Talanah hopped up onto the battlement wall to do just that, her jet black ponytail swishing as she did so. Aloy turned her attention back to the board, which hovered at chest height as she pulled up her Focus interface.

_‘Battery level eighth five percent. Repulsor consumption holding steady. Diagnostics show hardware is stable.’_

“Excellent, I want you to keep her on the Alight though,” Aloy said in a low voice. She didn't have an opportunity to go on, as the sound of heavy armored footsteps drew her attention away.

The Sun-King and his entourage were funneling down the main path off of the mesa, escorted by the Vanguard who had been posted around the circle minutes before. Erend had hung back, allowing them to depart ahead, and was now drifting towards Aloy.

“I’m not wearing the best shoes for this I suspect,” Talanah said, hopping down to the ground again, smiling broadly, white teeth framed in dark plump lips. “But I got them on.”

Erend had reached them, stepping between and looking from Talanah, who crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at him, to Aloy who was still doing checks on the board somewhat unnecessarily.

“You're letting her have a go on the board?” he asked, sounding somewhat envious.

Aloy was about to turn and look at him when she heard Talanah whisper in a voice that nonetheless carried. “Don't be jealous, Captain. Surely she's let you have a go at _other_ things?”

It took a lot of self control for Aloy to pretend she hadn't heard this, as it had clearly been meant only for Erend. Even harder to keep up the rouse when Erend sputtered a bit in reaction.

“Yeah, she asked, I figured why not,” Aloy said, breathily, as she turned at last from the hover board, closing her Focus interface. Erend was beet red, purposefully looking away from Talanah as she bounced past him to join Aloy.

Deciding it was kinder to let him recover, Aloy turned them away from Erend. The board fell down to ankle height, as low as it could possibly go.

“Alright, take my hand,” Aloy said, and Talanah did so without hesitation, the teal armored plates on the back of her hand glinting in the sunlight. “And now just step up on it, you can keep a hold until you have your balance.”

“Woaaah.” Talanah managed to get both feet in place easily, but then her knees seemed wobbly, the board swaying here and there. Aloy held her hand tightly, then reached up with her other and plucked the Focus from the side of her face.

As the Sun Hawk steadied, the pressure she was placing on Aloy’s hand decreased. She used it just long enough to step forward and press the Focus to Talanah’s temple. Her dark eyes went wide, seeing the interface, possibly already hearing GAIA talking in her ear.

“You can let go now,” Aloy said, smiling encouragingly.

Talanah did, and drifted slowly backwards away, apparently listening raptly. Then she began to shift around, feeling out how the board reacted.

“So seriously, when do I get to fly it?”

Erend had come to stand at her shoulder, eyes also on Talanah. “To be honest I'd have to develop a higher capacity prototype for you to try,” Aloy said.

“What're you trying to say?” Erend asked, turning to her, pulling an exaggerated face as if she had genuinely wounded him.

Aloy faced him, extending a hand and tapping on the diagonal plates stitched to his leather vest. “I'm trying to say that muscle and steel armor are heavy,” she said, looking up at him, enjoying the way his wide lips curved up into a grin at this. “Talanah on the other hand weighs about the same as I do.”

“Fair enough,” he said, then with a slightly forlorn sigh. “Alright, I better go catch up.”

He didn't kiss her, but did tug her against him in the briefest of hugs before trotting off. Aloy watched him go, taking a moment to appreciate his broad back, and the way his firm arms swung at his sides when he walked.

As he disappeared through the stone arch off of the Alight, Aloy turned her attention back.

Talanah was flying in slow rises and falls over the sun mosaic, looking gleeful. She waved as she rose to fly over the battlement walls opposite the Spire, flying around the crumbling buildings there.

Talanah flew for a long while, never going nearly as high as Aloy had during the demo. She suspected GAIA was keeping her reigned in. Not that the Sun Hawk seemed to have minded, as she stepped off the board next to Aloy, smiling broadly.

“I want one,” she said, sounding certain.

Aloy laughed. “Tell you what, I'll let you try this out a couple more times while I think about that,” she said.

“Just tell me when,” Talanah said, plucking the Focus from where it had been anchored just below the bird like metal headdress the Sun Hawk always wore. “Tomorrow? I can do tomorrow.”

“Actually, Erend’s off duty the next couple days,” Aloy said, taking the device and affixing it back to her own temple. “So perhaps after that.”

Talanah crossed her arms over the diagonal armor plated sash she was wearing, smirking again. “So you two figured things out? I'm glad.”

Having expected a playful jab like she'd heard Talanah give Erend earlier, Aloy blinked. “Thanks, it’s going pretty well,” she replied, after a solid half minute of silence. “So, in three days?”

Talanah smiled, and nodded. “I can't wait.”

—————-

Erend went straight to the market after he was dismissed from duties, needing a few things for dinner. The day had been long in the sense that it had felt like it had dragged on after he left the flying demonstration. Rounds had been painfully boring in comparison, and his mind was already on spending the evening with Aloy.

He'd gone home after work the previous couple days just to tidy before heading to the workshop. He was glad he'd done so as his apartment was truly fit for company for perhaps the first time in months. Erend smiled at this as he arrived home, going to deposit the groceries in the kitchen.

He was nearly done removing his armor in his bedroom when he heard the knock on the door. He flung off the armored flaps from his waist, the last remaining piece, and thundered back down the stairs.

Aloy smiled at him brilliantly when he pulled the door open. She was without her board, or any hardware for that matter aside from her Focus. She'd changed into a Carja silk outfit of red and yellow, and had a small bag slung over her shoulder.

“Hey,” she said, stepping past him into the apartment.

Erend returned the greeting watching as she tossed her bag on the couch, opening his arms automatically when she turned back to him. She slid her arms around his neck, and rose up to kiss him.

“Ready to cook dinner?” he asked, brushing his nose against hers.

“Or watch you cook it,” Aloy joked. “One of those.”

“Oh, one of those?” Erend asked playfully, sliding his hands back down from where they were on her back, slipping them to her sides. Somehow she didn't see it coming, he curled his fingers and dug them into the soft silk of her top, tickling her.

Aloy squealed and giggled delightfully, pushing against him as if to shove him away, but hardly putting much effort into the protest. “Okay, okay, I'll help,” she panted. “You win.”

There was a lot of laughter in the kitchen as they worked on dinner. Erend gave her easy tasks. Chopping vegetables. Stirring the sauce as it simmered on the stove. The dish Aloy loved so much was actually something from the Claim. To make it you cut open a pepper, hollowed it out and then stuffed it with ground meat, chopped vegetables, cheese, and an assortment of seasoning and then baked it.

They made four of these, lining them up on a flat metal pan and then sliding this into the oven.

“It's been so long,” Aloy said, settling into a chair at the kitchen table. “I actually tried to find a way to synthesize it when I was living in the ruins, but never succeeded.”

“It wouldn't have been as good anyway,” Erend joked.

They sat at the table talking as the aroma of the stuffed peppers began to emanate from the oven, filling the room. It made Erend’s stomach grumble. He enjoyed the way Aloy inhaled in and smiled. Cooking for her had been one of his favorite things to do when they'd been together two years before.

Now, though it had been years, somehow it felt like days since last they’d had dinner together like this at his apartment.

Aloy even remembered where the plates were kept, though she was surprised to only find two there.

“Why do you have so few dishes?” Aloy asked, setting the two plates side by side on the counter so he could plate the food.

“Honest answer?” Erend was sliding on two heavy quilted oven mitts. Aloy nodded, leaning on the counter, her hair flowing over her shoulder and down her side. “I smashed all my dishes the night you showed back up, after we… talked in the market.”

Opening the oven door, Erend pulled out the pan and placed it on the stove top, closing the door back. He was afraid to meet her eyes, focusing instead on the metal spatula he was using to gently pry the delicious smelling peppers from their pan.

“Did you buy plates just so we could have dinner tonight?” His spirits lifted immediately at the levity in her voice.

“Maybe,” he answered, plopping a pepper down on the first plate.

Aloy surprised him, stepping forward and placing a kiss on his cheek, just above the hair that lined his jaw. “You're sweet,” she said, retreating so he could continue. “And I think perhaps I owe you some dishes.”

Erend laughed, handing her the first plate which had two steaming hot stuffed peppers on it. “How about instead you buy dishes and kitchen ware for your own apartment,” he said. He left the implication that then he would cook for her at her place unspoken.

Aloy fished utensils from a drawer, setting knives and forks at their seats. She was just sitting down when he came to the table with his own plate.

“How’d Talanah do on the board?” Erend asked after they had been eating a while.

“She did great,” Aloy answered. “Wants to fly again in a few days. Actually says she wants one of her own, but we’ll see about that.”

Erend chuckled, cutting into his second pepper. “Talanah wants a hover board. Marad wants a combat simulator. You could probably go into business selling contraptions, you know that?” Erend asked.

“Marad wants what?” Aloy asked with her mouth partially full of food. She covered it hastily, reaching for a cloth napkin.

“I have never found you more attractive,” Erend said, as she wiped her mouth. “He thought combat simulation would be ideal for training soldiers. Both Carja and Oseram.”

Aloy bobbed her head from one side to the other as if weighing out the idea. “I mean, there is a point there,” Aloy said. “Could you really see the Vanguard training in a metal box?”

“When put like that it does seem far fetched,” he answered. “And it's not like our training methods have failed us so far.”

Their plates clean, Erend rose and took them to the kitchen sink. Aloy went into the living room as he did this, picking up her bag from the couch. She also removed her Focus, placing it on the living room table.

The sly smile on Aloy’s face as Erend turned to see her, waiting for him at the foot of the stairs up to his bedroom, sent electricity up his spine. She held a hand out to him, and he took it, winding his broad fingers between her thin ones.

Aloy tugged his arm, ascending the stairs ahead of him, his eyes got caught up in the way her hips swayed as they climbed. His hands were on her the moment they breached the bedroom door, winding around her hips, pulling her against him, kissing her passionately.

Erend hadn't kissed her nearly enough since she'd gotten there for dinner.

Aloy let her bag slide off of her shoulder, as he backed her to the edge of the bed. Soon she was setting about unbuckling her shoes while he scrambled to light the lamp, illuminating them in flickering light.

Erend kicked off his own shoes, and they tumbled into his bed, hands scrambling to rid each other of clothing, lips locked together. Aloy slid her hands beneath his shirt, her fingers sliding over his chest.

Humming against her lips, he pulled them apart long enough for their tops to come off. Then he brought his mouth down to her perky breasts. Aloy’s body moved fluidly, back arching up towards him, as he sucked on each of her nipples until they were hard.

He needed her to be naked, fingers finding the closure to her silk flapped skirt, tugging it free. She was eager to help him remove it, kicking it off the end of the bed, and twisting slightly as she looked up at him, her beautiful nude body silhouetted against his sheets.

Erend didn't see her hands come up the his fly, until she was undoing it, sitting up to tug his trousers off. Soon their bodies were sliding together, naked and warm, his pants making their way to the floor with the rest of their clothing.

Aloy’s nails dug into his back as she allowed him to push her down into the mattress, his lips on her neck, his hands sliding down the back of her thighs as he slid between them. They moaned as one when he filled her, lifting his face from her breasts as he began to make love to her.

So swept up in her eyes, and the feeling of her wrapped around him, Erend didn't hear the knocking at first.

“Erend, someone's,” Aloy panted. “At the door.”

“They’ll come back later,” Erend breathed, thrusting into her in steady motions.

The knocks became more frequent and harder, echoing up the stairs through the bedroom door he very much regretted leaving open. It was distracting Aloy, even before the voice called through the door down below.

“EREND I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE, I SAW THE LAMP LIT IN YOUR BEDROOM!”

Erend froze, he'd thought it would be one of his men, but the voice was female. Aloy pushed herself up on her elbows, listening, staring at him as he retreated rapidly from her.

“WE NEED TO TALK YOU CAN’T AVOID ME FOREVER!”

Aloy gathered the covers around her, as Erend half stumbled from the bed, his heart beating outside his chest.

“Erend, who is that?” she asked, eyes wide and confused.

Erend fumbled for his pants, as the voice of the pretty barmaid continued echoing through his apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides*


	28. Too Late

Erend shoved his pants on, one leg at a time, feeling the burn of Aloy’s eyes on him as he did so. He had to scan the floor for his shirt, bending pick it up when the voice called through the front door once more.

“EREND VANGUARDSMAN YOU ANSWER THIS DOOR!”

Aloy was sitting up her legs pulled up to her chest beneath the covers. She didn't repeat the question, though it hung over the room as he donned his shirt.

“Erend…”

Somehow her voice was calm, measured. Her eyes reflected the flickering lamplight as she stared him down where he stood framed in the door.

“Just stay here, I’ll…” he hesitated, what was the end of that sentence? Would he even be able to explain. “We’ll talk. Just” More door pounding echoed up the stairs.

Aloy gave the smallest of nods, and Erend left the bedroom, closing the door behind him. His heart was racing, palms sweating as he descended the stairs. It had been foolish of him to think things could have continued going so well.

Erend reached the front door, taking breaths to try to calm himself, that is until another round of knocks urged him forward.

The woman beyond the door looked at him with exasperation and relief, her hand raised to knock. “It's about damn time,” she said, lowering her arm and sidling past him into the apartment without waiting for an invitation. “Were you asleep?”

She took a few steps into the living room, before turning to face him where he was making a to do of closing the door. “I was in bed, yes,” Erend said carefully. “What are you doing here?”

Straightening up to her full height, which was still a good foot shorter than him, she took a deep breath, shaking her head so that her curly brunette hair bounced around her face. “I'm late.”

Erend's brain didn't comprehend this, he blinked. “Yes it is late, Dolores,” he said. “So why are you here?”

The whimpering sound she released alarmed him. She went and sank down onto the couch, looking up to him with wide almond shaped brown eyes. “No Erend,” she said, patiently. “I'm LATE. As in… my monthly flow hasn't come.”

His knees almost went out from under him, his lungs ceasing to work as his mind put together what she meant. “How late?” It was a miracle he managed this question, half stumbling to sit on the sofa himself, though leaving space between them.

“Maybe a week,” she said. “I just thought you needed to know that there’s a possibility I'm pregnant.”

—————-

Aloy’s bare back slid down the bedroom door, as she sank to sit on the ground, still clutching the covers from Erend’s bed around herself. She felt like she was sinking, the world collapsing in on her, pulling her down.

There was only one reason she could think of that a woman would show up at a man’s door to tell him she could be pregnant.

She felt mildly like she might throw up, curling in on herself, no longer even remotely capable of continuing to listen to the conversation going on down below. Just a few minutes before they'd been making love, and now he was downstairs talking to a woman who clearly he'd been sleeping with at some point in the past month.

Then a thought clicked firmly in her mind: I need to get the hell out of here.

With it came the will to stand up. She lumped the covers back on the bed and set out around the room to recollect her clothing, sliding back into the silk skirt and tunic, strapping back on her boots.

Aloy didn't let herself think of anything else but the task in front of her, until she realized her Focus was downstairs. Frowning, she shouldered the overnight bag she’d brought. So much for climbing out a window, she thought as she returned to the bedroom door, pressing an ear to listen.

“Maybe it isn't that bad,” the female voice was saying. “You've quit drinking now, I think you have the capacity to be a good father.”

The word father was like a punch to the throat, and Aloy pulled the bedroom door open before she could lose her resolve. She kept her eyes in her feet as she descended, not bothering to keep her footsteps quiet.

She froze at the bottom of the stairs, as the other woman had turned in her seat on the couch, eyes wide with surprised. She couldn't have looked more different than Aloy had expected. She was shorter and more matronly than Aloy was.

Aloy dropped her gaze to the living room table and saw that though she'd turned off her Focus before going upstairs it was now lit, glowing soft blue.

GAIA had been listening to everything.

Erend rose from the couch. “Aloy, wait…”

The woman took in a sharp breath, looking from Erend and then back. “Aloy?”

There was recognition in this woman’s eyes, she knew the name. It meant something to her, and judging by the way she held herself it was nothing good.

Aloy couldn't look at Erend, he was standing adjacent to the table, and she decided on the spot to abandon her Focus there. She spared the device one last glance before evacuating straight out the front door, slamming it behind her.

It was a few blocks before she allowed herself to slow down long enough to think what she wanted to do. Going home made the most sense, but she didn't want to face GAIA. Didn't want to be made to talk. She wandered vaguely in the direction of the workshop, mind still buzzing with everything.

She should have realized it was all going far to well. Things had felt like they were falling into place, like pieces meant to fit together. And now…

Aloy reached her block, the front door to her place visible. Instead of going towards it, she ducked into the alley way between buildings, to the back. It was built back to back with another building, her kitchen window facing the bedroom window of an elderly couple that occasionally forgot to close the curtains when they changed.

The climb wasn't easy, with bare fingers gripping into grout. She scraped her elbow on the brickwork, and nearly lost her balance as she struggled to open the kitchen window she had never attempted to open before.

She slid into he apartment as quietly as she could, closing the window slowly behind her after she'd climbed over the counter and got her feet back on solid ground again.

Now that she was home, it hit her all the more.

Erend has been with someone while she was away.

As much as she wanted to be angry, a little voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she'd left him for two years without a word. What had she expected?

Aloy plopped her bag in the kitchen table, and fished from within her light facility clothing, which she carried with her to the bedroom. She took an exorbitant amount of time changing, her limbs feeling droopy and uncooperative.

She wanted to climb into the bed and never get back out, an idea she realized wasn't as good as it sounded once she executed it. The pillows smelled of him, the bedding itself smelled faintly of sex and sweat.

She wallowed in it, her mind a mine field of self blame, and despair. Here she'd thought she'd come back in time. But it turned out in the end, she was too late after all.

The tears came, and Aloy buried her face into the pillows, and fell apart.

—————-

Erend hadn't gone after Aloy, even though he wanted to with just about every fiber of his being. Instead he had sank back down onto the couch, staring at the now closed front door, taking slow breaths and trying not to panic.

“How… how long has she been back?” Dolores asked, wringing her hands in her lap, eyes boring into the side of his face.

“A couple weeks,” Erend answered. He let his head sag, running a hand down the thick band of hair that ran down his head.

“And are the two of you…” she trailed off for a moment, taking a long breath. “Back together?”

“Yes,” Erend decided on bluntness. He didn't know what else to say at this point. Perhaps he should have come and told the barmaid that their casual arrangement was over. He definitely should have told Aloy that he'd had someone else while she was away, he knew that all along but had been foolish enough to think he had time to do so once they were on stable relationship ground.

Dolores was crying now, and Erend had no idea what to do. He finally brought his eyes to her, her face was in her hands, her elbow sank into the top of her legs.

They hadn't been in a relationship. They'd never been romantic in nature, but suddenly it occurred to him that might have been purely his doing. The pretty barmaid may have always had other ideas.

Erend had to bite back expletives as this all hit him like a ton of bricks.

“There are ways we can find out for sure,” she said, lifting her head finally, looking up to him with bloodshot eyes, the shining trails of tears flowing down her round cheeks. “There are tests now to see if I'm pregnant.”

He knew this already, Oseram Tinkers, wanting to detect pregnancy early to prevent the inhalation of fumes from the forge during pregnancy, had developed a chemical test for just this purpose. Many of the occupations and recreations of the Claim were harmful to an unborn baby, and the less time a woman spent unknowingly with child the better.

“I'll go with you,” Erend said, knowing this was the right thing to do. She gave a shaky nod, eyes falling away again.

The pretty barmaid was pulling herself together, standing up from the couch. “We can go tomorrow,” she said in a soft voice, looking anywhere but at him. “Get it out of the way.”

She gathered the silk wrap she was wearing around her shoulders tighter, and made for the front door. Erend stood, feeling like he had to say something more. “Do you want me to walk you home?”

This was the first thing he could think to say, she stopped with one hand on the door handle. “No, thank you. I'll come by tomorrow,” she spoke in a flat voice, he could barely hear it. “Goodnight Erend.”

“Goodnight.”

For the second time that night, a woman slammed his door hard enough to rattle the whole damn apartment.

“FUCK!” Erend knew there was no one there to hear this, as he thundered up the stairs to his bedroom. He tried not to look at his disheveled bed, tried not to think about how he'd been making love to Aloy there not long ago.

He was only up here for his shoes, he tugged them on, trying to decide if attempting to go talk to Aloy was even a good idea. The alternative, going to bed without her for the first time in a week, felt like giving up, and there was no way in hell he was giving up on them.

Erend was at the foot of the steps when the blue glow of the Focus caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. There, he thought, a ready made excuse to show up at her place.

He crossed the room quickly, scooping the device into his hand, and sliding it into his pocket as he left. He took a slightly indirect route, trying to think of what he was going to say. Hoping with each turn not to run into anyone he knew.

Soon he was face to face with the workshop door with little recollection of exactly when he'd arrived there. He knocked, a quiet knock knowing that the proximity alert was likely already going off.

The panel to the right of the door glowed green, the door swinging in and open. Erend stepped through, heart sinking as he realized the workshop was empty, quiet and dark.

That is until GAIA popped into three dimensional holographic life on the console adjacent to the three dark monitors.

_‘Good evening, Erend. I'm sorry to tell you that Aloy isn't here. She has not yet returned.’_

“Shit,” Erend breathed, running both hands over his head, shaking it as the reality that even GAIA didn't know where Aloy was struck him. “Then why did you let me in?”

He stood in the middle of the shop, looking forlornly around himself. The door had closed itself behind him.

_‘Because you have her Focus. Also, because I thought you might need someone to talk to.’_

Of course she knew that he had brought Aloy’s Focus with him. GAIA was as all knowing as ever. Erend fished the device out of his pocket, turning it over in his fingers for a moment before stepping forward to place it on the desk top.

“I guess you heard all of that?” he asked, knowing full well the answer but wanting the AI to admit to it.

_‘I did, yes. Please, Erend. Sit.’_

Erend considered refusing and leaving. GAIA was still such an unknown quantity to him, and though she had so far helped in reuniting him with Aloy, he'd also become more aware of Aloy’s want for privacy from the AI.

Yet, he found himself sinking down onto the rolling stool, turning it to face the hologram of the woman. She was depicted as an older black woman, with a long braid, in flowing clothing. She stared him down, crossing her arms over the diagonal flow of material that ran down her torso.

_‘Well, what do you have to say for yourself?’_

Erend swallowed, adjusting himself on the stool. “Really feel like this is a conversation I should be having with Aloy first,” he said, then. “I'm not proud.”

He rolled closer to the desk top, his elbows coming down on either side of the Focus where it sat, his forehead coming down into his hands.

_‘Who was that woman to you? I can't help you if I don't know all the facts.’_

Erend snorted. She wanted to help him? There was no helping him. He'd managed to seal his fate before he even knew the possibility or reconciliation with Aloy even existed.

“Around a year and a half, I started getting grief from a few of the men,” he said, raising his head, allowing his hands to fold together. “There had been a few… interested parties that I had sidestepped. The guys noticed and didn't understand why I was keeping myself for someone who wasn't coming back.”

_‘They were urging you to move on.’_

Nodding, Erend continued. “It went as far up as the King, tired of his surly sodden brooding Captain. I was set up on dates that all went terribly. Then one night I got particularly drunk and brought home the attractive barmaid from the bar I was drinking at nightly,” he explained. “This became an occasional occurrence up until maybe a week before the Spire lit up.”

Silence. GAIA said nothing. She asked nothing. She stared at him with eyes that seemed to be searching him to his soul, he eyed the stairs behind her translucent holographic form, tempted to go upstairs even though Aloy wasn't there.

“I know I should have told her,” he said after what felt like a long while.

_‘It is my understanding of human romantic relationships that discussion of previous sexual partners is usually part of the process. Particularly when the timeframes so very nearly overlap.’_

Erend choked, wheeling the chair back from the console and finding his feet. For a moment he brandished a finger at GAIA before realize he was in the verge of threatening a ghostly image with no physical form.

Instead he began to pace, walking to the open combat simulator door before pivoting on the spot and walking back towards Aloy’s work table.

“You see when Aloy first came back I was terrified. Afraid if I let her in I'd just get hurt again. I'd spent years being worn down and bitter about losing her and I couldn't survive a second round,” he said, waving his hands as he spoke. GAIA looked on letting him spew out his emotions.

“Then she kicked her way in, saved my ass, and we were together. Just, suddenly, together. I should have told her but I was just too busy falling right back in love with her,” he continued. “And then I was terrified again, that I'd do something to fuck it up. So I didn't tell her. I never meant for her to find out like THIS that's for damn sure.”

Erend had talked himself back into silence, pacing to the foot of the stairs now then to the door and back.

_‘You're in love with Aloy?’_

“Of course I'm in love with Aloy,” Erend said, advancing on the console again. “I've been in love with her since the day she turned up in Meridian, verbally slapped me straight, and then helped me find my sister. I owe her so much, and here I've gone and fucked up our second chance before it even got off the ground.”

Erend lowered himself back onto the stool, hunching with the weight of the last statement.

“I'm such an idiot. I should have kept waiting,” he said. Again his elbows met with the desk top, his head coming close to the monitors as he buried his face in his palms again, attempting to physically stem the tears.

—————-

Aloy sat curled up with her back leaning on the door down to the workshop. She had for the second time that night carried blankets with her, she held them around herself as if they were the only thing keeping her together.

She'd been listening pretty much since the moment he'd arrived. The tones from the door proximity alert had caught her ear, even as faint as they were.

GAIA had systematically gotten Erend to spill it all out. Aloy’s heart ached, listening to him talk of trying to move on. Then hearing him confess he had been and was still in love with her. He'd never said the words to her. Not even two years before, and she was sad for it to have come out now and to GAIA.

Part of her wanted to open the door. He sounded forlorn and desolate, the same as she felt. She longed to hold him, and be held in his arms. To tell him they'd figure it out.

The other nasty negative part of her brain pondered if they ever could.

This fear kept her rooted to the spot, silently listening, closed off from the world.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to note that comments on the previous chapter did not influence this plot. So that no one blames themselves :-). This was always the plan. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and hope you're enjoying the ride.


	29. I Hope I'm Not Too Late

Aloy awoke hours later, curled up within the covers in front of the door down to the workshop. She didn’t remember hearing Erend leave, but it was quiet down below so he must have at some point. She couldn’t decide if she was relieved or not.

She knew that they’d have to have the conversation eventually, especially if Aloy wanted to continue their relationship.

Aloy found that, having slept on it, she… did. Erend wasn’t the only one in love, she’d realized with surprising certainty. Aloy loved him. Had loved him since before she’d left Meridian and had fallen right back in love again when she’d returned.

The only thing was that if this woman, this barmaid he’d been seeing, was actually pregnant, Aloy wasn’t sure if she could handle that.

Deciding it was time to let GAIA know she was actually safely home, Aloy coaxed herself up off of the floor. She left the blankets heaped on the ground around where she had been curled up.

GAIA sensed her presence immediately, lights flickering into life on the devices around the workshop.

_‘Good morning, Aloy.’_

“You don’t sound surprised to see me,” Aloy said, as her bare feet met with the hardwood floor.

_‘I had a feeling you had found your way home without detection. As clever as always. Would you like some tea?’_

“Sure,” Aloy answered, sliding onto her stool. “Out of curiosity, when you were talking to Erend, had it ordered to you I might be listening?”

_‘Not until mid way through. You heard it all?’_

The food synthesizer made its usual ding, and Aloy wheeled the stool right over to retrieve the steaming hot cup of tea. She blew on it as she scooted back up to the console.

“Not all of it,” she said, sitting down the cup. “Fell asleep at some point. I was mildly concerned I would discover he was still down here.”

_‘I told him he should come back when he knows for sure if that girl is pregnant.’_

This sentence felt like a blow to the chest. Aloy’s hand clutched her shirt, blinking back the tears that came every time she thought of Erend having a child with someone else.

“Probably… for the best?” Aloy wasn't sure how this statement had become a question. Truth was, Aloy wanted to see Erend, wanted to talk to him about all of this.

Running away from his apartment had been impulsive and in hindsight possibly not the best decision. Now she’d have to wait for him to turn up.

_‘How are you feeling about everything?’_

Aloy had known this question was coming, and was actually prepared for it. “Emotionally exhausted,” she said, knowing this did not at all answer the query. Nor did she particularly care. Silence fell for a moment, and Aloy was sure the AI was attempting to formulate an additional question to drag more details from her.

_‘What would you like to do today, then?’_

Sipping her tea thoughtfully, Aloy turned this unexpected inquiry over in her mind.

“I’d like to look at your cauldron data for the past couple days,” Aloy said, hoping that keeping busy would keep her from dwelling. “We could also fire up the fabricator on those new console chairs I designed. Also could probably use a shower, and to put on some real clothes at some point.”

She looked down at herself as she said this. Aloy had on the loose flowing facility top and her shorts like underwear. Her bare legs were folded underneath her.

The sky was starting to lighten outside the workshop windows, the day officially dawning.

Aloy had no idea what to expect from it.

—————-

It took Erend a couple groggy minutes to remember why he was waking alone and feeling miserable. He let out a groan, burying his face in a pillow.

He missed Aloy.

After a week of sleeping in the same bed, Erend had slept terrible without her. He’d lost count of the number of times he’d reached for her in the night, longing to hold her only to find empty space.

It took a lot of self-control not to let the bath swallow him alive. To not wallow in it and never get out.

Erend was glad he hadn’t lingered, as a knock came from the front door while he was dressing. He threw pants on to go answer it, a tiny flare of hope inviting that it might be Aloy, though it ended up being the one person he was actually expecting that morning.

Dolores, the pretty barmaid, shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other, arms crossed almost defensively over her chest. She took in his half dressed state, and his bare feet, and let out a huff of impatience as she slid into his apartment.

“When will you be ready?” she asked briskly, crossing her arms over her chest. She was wearing an Oseram style dress, made from a mixture of woven fabric and leather, the yellow of the skirt swished behind her leather apron.

“Just… give me a couple minutes,” Erend said.

He took the stairs back up to his room two at a time. Now that she was there the urgency to get the answer he needed had risen in him. He threw a wrinkled shirt over his head, shoved his feet into boots, and found his belt. He was back out his bedroom door in a flash.

She had not sat down, she was still standing not far from the door, arms folded defensively over herself. “Ready,” Erend mumbled as he reached her, looking down at her though she didn't look up to meet his eyes.

“Alright let's get this over with then,” she said, moving away from him to the door.

Erend didn't need this to be said twice, he opened the door for her and they set off. They walked with distance between them, a buffer of room as she stalked next to him looking annoyed.

The Oseram clinic was tucked away inside the interior of the mesa, up some rickety wooden stairs from a bare square of row houses. He held this door open for her here as well, which she didn't acknowledge as they entered the tiny waiting room beyond.

She went to check in at the desk, as Erend spared a glance around the people lining the walls in chairs waiting to be seen. A frail Oseram woman with a handkerchief covering her mouth as she coughed. A full on pregnant woman eying this warily. A mother with a sick child.

Erend was just glad he didn't recognize anyone, as the barmaid returned to his side and they found a pair of chairs in the corner to wait in. The wait seemed excruciatingly long, in the eery silence of the waiting room. She was rocking slightly in her seat, her hands on her own knees draped in the cloth of her skirt.

He wondered if he should be comforting her, wondered if he should hold her hand. He considered this for a moment, but before he had a chance to decide a female healer was standing in the doorway.

“Dolores?”

She sprung up from next to him so fast he might've blinked and missed it. They were ushered back into a small room, Erend leaned awkwardly on one of the walls while Dolores explained to the healer why they were there.

“How late is your bleed?” The healer was an old, grey haired Oseram woman, she peered over spectacles as she spoke.

“Over a week,” Dolores answered, still decidedly not looking at Erend.

“Then yes, the test,” the old woman said. She went to a cabinet and pulled from it a small glass with markings up the side to measure volume. “I'll need some urine.”

Erend choked on his own spit, sputtering as Dolores didn't so much as blink at this request. She slid off of the examination table and took the glass.

“Washroom is the second door on the right, dearie.” This left Erend alone with the old matronly healer, who fixed him with a piercing look. “Husband? Boyfriend?”

He couldn't bring himself to answer, swallowing to keep from throwing up as his nerves were on fire at this point. His future would be determined in the next few minutes and he just was trying to stay standing. This seemed to be enough of an answer for the healer, who nodded.

Dolores was back, gingerly carrying the cup which was now a third full. He averted his eyes from it, realizing how strange it was for three people to be looking at someone else's pee.

The healer sat the container on the side table and set to mixing several things into it, herbs smashed with a pestle.

“It all depends on the color,” she said as she did this. “Warm hue and you're with child. A blue or a green, and you're not. Takes a bit though.”

The healer was stirring now, Erend could hear the clinking of something on the glass. He wouldn't look to it until Dolores reached for his arm and shook it. “It's turning.”

—————-

Aloy was just getting out of the bath when she heard the bing bong tones filtering through the door. Her stomach did a funny little flip flop because somehow she knew it was Erend. She held a towel around her damp body and padded across the kitchen to reach out and retrieve her Focus.

It was as she thought, the DOOR PROXIMITY ALERT flashed across her interface the moment she activated the tiny device. Erend stood at her front door, he knocked. Then when there was no answer knocked again.

_‘Would you like me to turn him away?’_

“N-no,” Aloy stammered. “You can let him in and tell him I'll be down in a minute.”

Then she plucked the Focus off her ear and reached back out to place it on the ledge, snapping her apartment door back closed. She leaned on it, taking deep breaths as she heard GAIA admit Erend down below.

Not wanting to go down in her facility clothing, Aloy had to dry herself thoroughly and slide into a set of Carja silks. A set she was fond of in blues and reds. She tried hard not to think about him waiting down below for her, tried not to think about what he and GAIA could possibly be talking about.

Once she was dressed, she combed through her hair, sidling up next to the door to listen. It was quiet, though perhaps she heard footsteps. She paused tending her wet locks to press her ear right up to the door and was now sure she heard him pacing below.

Realizing that she was stalling, Aloy returned her comb to the washroom. She held in front of the door for the briefest of moments before pulling it open.

Erend’s eyes were on her the moment she crossed the threshold, watching as she retrieved her Focus before descending. He wasn't in his armor, just the striped shirt and trousers. The shirt was wet, and Aloy glanced to the window to realize it was raining heavily outside.

“Hey,” he said, taking a cautious step towards her when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

Aloy let out a breathy sigh and took a step herself, though leaving plenty of steps between them. “Hey,” she returned.

“For a second I thought you weren't going to answer,” he admitted, another couple steps taken. There were rain drops clung on his mohawk and facial hair, his lips were twisted into a concerned frown.

“You just happened to catch me as I was getting out of the bath,” Aloy said, gesturing over her shoulder, taking another couple steps. “I was actually hoping you would come by.”

“You were? Good,” Erend said, they were arm’s length apart now, and that's where they held. “I was worried you didn't want to see me.”

Aloy’s fingers had found her hair, his eyes had finally come up to meet hers, there was a cacophony of emotions flowing through his gaze, from hope to fear. She didn't know what to say, so she went with a dose of tough truth.

“At first I didn't,” Aloy said, twining thin fingers endlessly through her hair, still not closing the remaining gap between them. “But then I… did?”

Thankful that GAIA had saw fit to remain quiet so far, Aloy let silence fall between them. Erend stared, mouth slightly open, as if he'd forgotten what he'd meant to say. Her stomach dropped a little lower, as she imagined suddenly perhaps he was trying to find a way to tell her he was having a child.

“And now you're here,” she said, floundering to find anything to say.

“She's not pregnant,” Erend blurted out. It was inelegant, and he seemed to hold himself back from stepping ever closer.

Relief flooded Aloy, and she immediately felt guilty for it. “Was she relieved or disappointed?” Aloy asked.

The way Erend dropped his gaze from hers answered this question thoroughly enough for her. She actually expected him not to answer, but he surprised her.

“A bit of both I think,” he said, running a hand through his hair, flicking some of the rain water off of it. “I'm an idiot.”

For some reason this made Aloy smile, she waited until he looked back up to see her reaction and said, “Am I meant to disagree right now?”

Erend laughed, and shook his head. “I wouldn't if I were you,” he said.

Aloy had questions, but the answers terrified her. She moved sideways and found a seat on her rolling stool. She pointed to indicate that Erend should sit in the new console chair. It was more like the office chairs she'd found in the facility, with a shoulder height curving plastic back, and rubbery arm rests.

Erend sat in it, looking surprised at how comfortable it was.

“How long were the two of you…” Aloy trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

“It happened over maybe four months,” Erend said, ceasing his adjustments in the chair, his elbows now planted on the rests his posture straightening.

Aloy hated herself for immediately doing mental math. She'd passed through Meridian nine months before. Five months after that he'd started seeing someone else. As much as it hurt, she couldn't say he'd been unreasonable in having thought at that point it was time to move on.

Her silence seemed to be alarming him, he wheeled his chair closer to her, their knees practically touching. “I should have told you,” he said. “It wasn't a full relationship, but you had a right to know.”

A surge of electricity shot through Aloy, and she scooted her stool away, finding her feet again. “Of course I had a right to know,” she breathed, pacing the length of the workshop.

Erend stayed seated, slowly pivoting the chair to follow her. “As I said, I'm an idiot,” Erend said. “A scared idiot. I believe I've been saying that since the moment we got back together.”

Aloy remembered their mutual admission of this, on the eve of their reunion, and somehow it helped. “And there's nothing else you need to tell me?” she asked, stopping next to the work table and pivoting back to look at him.

“Actually,” Erend said, standing up. “There may be one more thing.”

Suddenly the room was filled with blaring sound, as a siren sounded. Erend jumped, his hands coming up to cover his ears, completely abandoning his statement.

“GAIA what the hell?” Aloy practically had to shout over the din. “Now’s really not the time.”

_‘Apologies Aloy, but it seems we have an unauthorized user attempting to gain access to the network.’_

“What? That's impossible, where?” Aloy brushed past a stunned Erend, and was back on her stool and at the console in moments. She silenced the alarms, as a map of the network flashed up on the monitors.

_‘Tracing now.’_

Erend had come to stand behind Aloy, looking over her to the console. She found herself leaning back against him, and was rewarded with his hand coming down on her shoulder. The map was zooming in, honing in on a section of network to the West.

Soon the next closest Minerva tower was flashing.

_‘Whoever they are, they're attempting to hack in through this tower.’_

Aloy closed her eyes, sagging further against Erend behind her, who supported her silently. “Do they have a Focus?”

_‘They do, yes.’_

“Can you call him?” Aloy asked.

“Him? You know who this is?” Erend asked, speaking for the first time since the alarm sounded, the hand on her shoulder giving a small squeeze.

Aloy let out a long sigh. “There's only one person I know who could possibly be capable of even making such an attempt,” she answered. “Only one way to find out. You may wanna step out of view though.”

Erend looked down at her, she was craning her neck to look up at him from the stool. He bent, and kissed her forehead. “Are we okay?”

The tone of desperation in his voice was not lost on Aloy, as he stayed hovered over her, his hand finding its way along her cheek, fingers burying into her hairline.

“I think we will be,” she said, bringing up her own hand to cup the back of his, surprised by her own surety on the matter. “I'm not giving up on us yet if that's what you're worried about. I just have to deal with this first.”

Erend nodded, sliding from behind her and plopping down in the chair off to the side again. Aloy turned to the monitors, straightening up, centering herself in front of the console.

“Alright GAIA, make the call.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sooooo sorry to leave you hanging so long. It hasn't been my intention but I'm glad to finally get this up. 
> 
> At 4 am Christmas Eve morning here. XD
> 
> Thanks for reading and a special thanks to my commenters who will all be getting replies in the next hour or so finally.


	30. I Need the Sun to Break

“Alright GAIA,” Aloy said, “make the call.”

Aloy had to resist the urge to look to Erend. In her peripheral she saw him fiddling with the arm rests on the chair and wondered if he was as annoyed as she was at having their conversation interrupted. That panicked need for assurance before he’d stepped away from her led her to believe he was.

There wasn't time to dwell on it, as an image flashed up on the center monitor of the console.

Sylens looked much like she remembered, bald headed and wide jawed, three blue bands were woven into the skin of his chin. For the briefest of moments he looked confused, his dark eyes wide, moving over her. He took in her clothing of Carja silk, the length of her hair where it flowed down her shoulder.

“Aloy?” he asked, in his smug low drawl of a voice.

“Sylens,” Aloy greeted, straightening up on the stool upon which she was perched. “What exactly do you think you’re doing trying to access my network?”

The man peering at her from the monitor was quick to regain his composure, wide lips pressing into a frown, eyes narrowing in a calculating manner. “YOUR network?”

Aloy couldn’t help but feel a little pleased with herself, watching him as he tried to piece this together. Two years prior it would have always been him to pop up unannounced to catch her off guard. For once she had the upper hand in their communications. “Yes,” she answered curtly, gazing calmly back into his dark eyes. “My network.”

Sylens didn't speak for a long moment, his eyes dropped from hers momentarily to something out of frame then returned. He tongued the inside of his slightly pocked cheek, silhouetted against a barren desert looking landscape behind him.

“It seems you have been busy these past couple years since last we spoke,” he said, crossing his arms over the thick belt he wore like a sash over himself, the blue bands woven into his arms glinting in the afternoon light.

Words popped up on the left hand monitor:  _‘He is attempting to trace the connection to find your location.’_

Aloy couldn't help the small smirk that crossed her lips, because of course he was. Sylens was never left off guard for long. Of course he would immediately try regain his own footing in the situation.

“I have been yes,” Aloy said, unfolding from herself, uncrossing her arms to place her hands palm down on the desk top. “I'll save you the trace, I'm in Meridian.”

Aloy sensed Erend shift in his seat, though she couldn't look to him at the moment. She kept her eyes fixed on Sylens, who once again looked surprised. She wasn't sure if it was her location that had caused this or the fact that she'd known he had been tracing it.

“Is that where you're running this network from?” Sylens asked, eyes alight with curiosity. It seemed one thing had definitely not changed, his thirst for knowledge and access.

“You could say that,” Aloy said, shrugging. She could tell her nonchalance was wearing on him, as he was likely burning to access the network. He pressed his long lips together, dropping his eyes away once more.

The words changed on the adjacent monitor:  _‘He is still running the trace, verifying you’re telling the truth about your whereabouts.’_

Typical Sylens, Aloy thought, rolling her eyes and chancing a look at Erend. He was sitting up in the new chair, having rolled himself back far enough that he could see the monitors at an angle. He looked worried, his grey eyes coming to hers for a fraction of a second before Sylens was speaking again, and she was forced to look away.

“I don't suppose we could come to some sort of agreement,” he asked in his low voice. “What can I do in order to gain access to this network of yours?”

Aloy allowed herself to laugh, tossing the length of her hair over her shoulder. “Sylens, I can't think of a single reason why I should even consider granting you access,” she said, shaking her head. “All you've ever shown me is that with a little bit of knowledge and power, and a whole lot of recklessness, you have the ability to end the world as we know it.”

She paused, watching as Sylens absorbed these words, he scrubbed a hand over his dark skinned face, his frown deepening still. His head ducked down momentarily, the blue bands on top of his head visible.

“I've already had to undo one of your world ending mistakes once,” Aloy went on. “I don't really feel like repeating the performance. Surely you understand.”

“Understand? Yes,” Sylens said, eyes coming back up to hers, gazing defiantly back at her from the middle console monitor. “Accept? No.”

The left hand monitor flickered again, a map coming up, showing a flashing dot in what appeared to be her very own workshop tucked in the corner of a top down view of Meridian.  _‘TRACE COMPLETE.’_ flashed across this image. Sylens now knew exactly where she was.

Aloy smiled, cocked her head to the side, and considered Sylens. “Your acceptance is irrelevant,” she said. “Goodbye Sylens. I trust you'll find any attempt you make to connect will be quickly found, and shut down. You’d be better off finding a new hobby.”

“This isn't over, Aloy!” Sylens face, twisted in anger, was the last bit of transmission she saw before she closed the connection.

“Burn him out,” Aloy said, decisively. “Send some machines to push him away from the tower. I assume you now have a trace on his Focus?”

_‘I do, unless he turns it off we will know of his location from here on out.’_

“Good.” Aloy slid the stool back from the console, standing up. “Is there anyway to get a read out of his movements over the past months?”

_‘Not without access to the Focus device itself.’_

“Well no worry, he's either going to return to wherever he's calling home and we will get the location,” Aloy said. “Or he's going to come to us.”

“That's why you wanted him to know your location?” Erend asked. He had risen from the chair, taking tentative steps towards her. His shirt was still damp from the rain that continued pouring down beyond the windows of the shop.

“Wanted isn't exactly the right word,” Aloy breathed, stepping around the rolling stool, coming closer to him. “I knew it wouldn't hurt for him to know. He will have to think twice about coming into the city itself, as I imagine the Sun King’s court would love to try him for his war crimes.”

They were just an arms length apart now, Aloy tilted her head up to look in his eyes, still laced with concern. Erend ran a hand through his own hair. “I guess I'm just relieved you're not flying off to somewhere in the forbidden west to apprehend him,” he admitted.

“Not yet anyway,” Aloy joked. She reached a hand up, her fingers finding the folds of his slightly rain wet scarf. Erend yielded to her gentle tug, leaning forward, their lips meeting mid way in a soft, reassuring kiss.

_‘Sylens is retreating from the tower. At the moment he's heading South. Slowly.’_

“Excellent, thank you GAIA,” Aloy said, sinking back down to flat feet, Erend's arms still tight around her, his chin coming to rest on the top of her head. “I think perhaps Erend and I will step upstairs for a bit.”

Aloy knew by the small squeeze he gave her before releasing her to turn her attention back to the monitors that this was the right choice. They needed to finish their conversation, and they would need privacy to do so.

“Go on up, I'll be there in a minute,” Aloy said, as she stepped back from him. Erend nodded, and then disappeared up the stairs as she was sliding back onto the stool at the console. “I want you to notify me if he shuts off his Focus for any reason or if he attempts network access via another point. For now just monitor him.”

_‘As you wish, Aloy.’_

Aloy heard the door the the apartment close above, and allowed herself a moment to breath before following. She gazed at the map that showed Sylens drifting from the Minerva tower he had been attempting to hack.

Sylens, an echo from her past she hadn't seen coming. It seemed to be the theme of the week. She knew he meant it when he said it wasn't over, though she had no idea what to expect from him.

—————-

Erend couldn't sit still when he reached the quiet of Aloy’s apartment. He sat at the table for less than a half a minute before finding his feet again, pacing the kitchen. The past day had been a never ending loop of stress and surprises, and despite the reassuring kiss she'd granted him before he'd come upstairs, Erend wasn't fully convinced that he might not be about to lose her.

Now that he was upstairs away from the humming of equipment in the workshop, he could hear the rain as it cascaded outside, and blew against the pains of the kitchen windows. He stood and watched it fall for a while, thinking about the events that had unfolded that day.

Sylens hadn't been quite what Erend had expected. Aloy had told him of the man's acts, but had somehow never clarified that Sylens himself was of the Banuk, not Carja. To think the person responsible for creating the Eclipse hadn't even been of the Carja, but taking advantage of their beliefs for his own gain.

If this had been any other night, Sylens reappearance would have been the most pressing matter. But for Erend at the moment it felt like a poorly timed distraction.

Aloy fortunately didn't keep him waiting long, he had to resist the urge to rush her the moment she stepped through the door. Instead he stood sentry next to the counters in the kitchen with his back to the rain drenched window.

She crossed the space between them quickly, and before he knew it she was sliding her arms around his waist hugging him. Erend let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, coiling his arms around her, fingers sliding along the silk back of her tunic, brushing through the length of her hair as he did so.

They hugged in silence for a long while, Erend gently rocking them as he held her body against his. Her face was nuzzled under his chin, and he was acutely aware of where her hands were gripping his back. He allowed himself a deep breath of her hair, relishing in the scent of florals mixed with machine oil.

Erend’s first instinct when he felt her grip loosening was to hold her tighter, keep them there in this moment of blissful quiet. However, he knew the conversation would need to be finished eventually, and there was no sense putting it off. So he let her separate from him far enough to look up into his face.

“Maybe we won’t get interrupted this time,” she said, leaning back against where his arms were supporting her, eyes locking on his, chin tilted up to look at him. It took a great deal of self-control not to kiss her. “Before we were, I believe you were a bout to tell me something?”

“I was?” Erend honestly was having trouble recalling what exactly they'd been saying the moment the alarms had sounded.

Aloy frowned up at him, her fingers fidgeting with his scarf, and for the first time he registered that there was still fear glinting in her gaze. “Yes, I asked if there was anything else you needed to tell me,” she said in a low voice. “And you were saying there might be one thing… which I’m hoping isn’t another woman because I’m still struggling with the existence of the first one and…”

“OH, no, it’s not that, there was only the one woman,” Erend assured her, he left one hand on her hip, the other came up to capture one of hers, squeezing her fingers against the folds of the scarf.

Aloy looked visibly relieved by this, leaning a little more against him, and squeezing his hand back. “Then… what?” Here eyebrows arched, hazel eyes wide and staring right into his soul as they always seemed to.

Erend swallowed hard. He knew he needed to do it, knew it was a necessary step. Yet the admission was caught in his suddenly excessively dry throat. What would she think? It wasn’t as if she didn’t on some level know, she’d seen him drink. Hell, she knew he’d smashed his apartment to bits in a drunken rage.

Though, he did seem to drink less when he was with her. That night in the market excluded, he had never been black out drunk with her. There was no way for her to know the true depths of his struggle to stay sober.

Not unless he told her.

“Erend?” He’d been looking past her, thinking, and as he brought his focus back to her he watched her eyebrows furrow.

“I have a drinking problem.”

The words tumbled from his lips, and he couldn’t tear his eyes from her face. “Oh,” she breathed, so quiet he almost missed it. The expression on her face softened, lips twitching up into a small understanding grin. Suddenly her free hand was on his cheek, thumb brushing across. “I think I may have realized that might be the case.”

Erend closed his eyes, allowing his forehead to fall against hers. “It’s something I’ve been fighting all my adult life,” he said. “It’s in my bloodline. I’m… not proud.”

“Babe, you should be proud,” Aloy said, her voice surprisingly sure and calm. “Not because it’s in your blood, but because despite that you are trying to be better than that.”

She was smiling when he opened his eyes to look at her, his heart lifting for the first time in the past day. “You make me want to be better than that,” Erend said, speaking the truth of the matter.

Aloy’s lips were on his in an instant, warm and tender. He kissed her back with every ounce of love inside of him, arms encircling her. Her fingers had drifted into his mohawk, as their lips melded together, tongues dancing against one another.

Erend was breathless as this kiss ended, Aloy sinking back into his arms, pressing her cheek into his shoulder. “I’m sorry I thought there was going to be a second woman,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Ah, well, can’t say I don’t deserve that,” Erend said, in a light tone. “I… I don’t know how I would feel if the tables were turned. Unless you had a secret boyfriend while you were off rebuilding GAIA.”

She laughed into his chest. “Dating opportunities were thin on the ground in the ancient facilities,” she joked. Erend ran a hand down her back, pulling her just a little tighter against him.

Truthfully, now that they were on the subject, the idea of Aloy having anyone other than him was gut wrenching. It gave him the smallest glimpse of how she must actually feel in regards to his relationship with Dolores. He wasn’t sure how to reassure her with words, though three little ones kept swimming up to the forefront of his mind.

For now, more than ever, Erend was sure that he loved her.

“I need to know we’re on the same page from here on out,” Aloy said, pulling back from him again. “No more playing around, just you and I figuring out how to be together. That’s… that’s what we want right?”

“More than anything.”

The words were barely from his mouth before she was kissing him again, this time tugging him away from the counter he’d been leaning on. She walked backwards out of the kitchen pulling them towards the bedroom.

Erend fumbled to kick his boots off as they toppled into the bed. Aloy’s hands were tugging his shirt loose from his pants, her lips still pressed hungrily to his. He was lost in it, fingers blindly feeling for the closure of her silk flapped skirt. His shirt flowed past his face, forcing their lips apart, as she rid him of the garment.

She smiled at him, running her thin fingers over his bare chest before pulling him back down to kiss her. He almost found himself saying it again, as they rolled deeper into the bed, bodies tangling together. Those three words threatening to tumble from his lips between kisses.

But he decided to wait. Not tonight, in the wake of so much. He would wait to tell her he loved her.

Tonight he would show her with things other than words.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I'll get my momentum back just had a slow start to the new year. 
> 
> Also this chapter was hard.
> 
> I'm not sure why it was so hard but for some reason it was. Hopefully it's only bad to me, and not to you all. 
> 
> I probably have just been looking at it too long.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For you, my loyal readers, for Valentine’s Day.

Aloy clung desperately to Erend’s scarf, her heart beating against her own ribs. The rain was still beating down on the kitchen windows. “I need to know we’re on the same page from here on out.” The words tumbled from her lips, as she needed to know, needed the reassurance. “No more playing around, just you and I figuring out how to be together. That’s…” she faltered for the briefest of moments afraid his response might not be what she hoped for. “That’s what we want right?”

Somehow he looks relieved. “More than anything,” he breathed.

Warmth spread through Aloy as she kissed him. She needed more, needed all of him. She pulled him away from the kitchen counter upon which he’d been leaning. Erend was kissing her back with as much, if not more, passion as she was him, his hands suddenly everywhere. He nearly tripped over his own feet as she pulled them backwards into the bedroom.

They were a tangle of limbs as she toppled them into the bed. He was still kicking off his boots as she fumbled to remove his shirt. They had to stop kissing long enough for her to remove it, but moments later she was pulling him back down, kissing him deeply.

Erend all but tore off her silk flapped skirt, his hands sliding over her under leggings, pulling her hips up against his. Aloy could feel just how aroused he was through his trousers, and it only served to add fuel to the fire kindling within her.

There was a desperation between them that wasn’t always there. Erend’s lips moved from hers, kissing down her jaw to her neck, his fingers now wrestling with the ties of her tunic.

“Erend?” It came out as a whisper he nonetheless heard.

Ceasing his methodical undressing of her, Erend slid his face from her neck to look down into her eyes. In his grey ones hunger warred with concern. “Yes? We… we don’t have to, we could just…”

Aloy reached up and pressed a finger to his lips, stemming the flow of words from them. “What? Cuddle?” she asked, allowing a smile to cross her lips.

“Something like that,” he said. “Whatever you want, so long as you aren’t kicking me out of this bed.” As he said this he brought a hand to her face, delicate fingers tracing down her hairline.

 _I love you._ The words nearly left her mouth, as he looked upon her as if she was treasure. “I just need to know that from this moment forward I’m the only one you share a bed with,” she said.

“I don’t want to be with anyone else, just you,” he said, his voice plaintive again. “I promise to never again make the mistake of thinking anyone could ever replace you.”

“Good answer,” she breathed, pulling him back down to her, lips finding his.

Erend was quick to resume his attempts to unlace her top, which she assisted in by wriggling free of the garment once he got it partially undone. Soon her bare breasts were free and Erend was burying his face in them. She helped him to slide off her leggings, blindly as his lips had seized one of her nipples.

Aloy gasped as he nibble it, her now naked body trembling beneath him. She reached for the closure on his pants, needing him to be as naked as she was, but her fingers had only just brushed the button when he stopped her, strong hands seizing her wrists gently yet firmly.

“Not so fast,” he whispered, coming up from her cleavage for air. “You’ll get your turn.”

Erend pinned both her arms down on either side of her head and she was mildly ashamed of how this affected her. Her already elevated heart rate seemed to have doubled as she playfully struggled against him. Strong as he was, Erend held her down as if it was nothing.

He looked down at her, eyes roving over her breasts, that heaved with each of her ragged breaths, before bringing his eyes up to hers in a silent question. Aloy licked her lips and nodded to let him know it was okay.

With a primal growl, his mouth was back on her neck, sucking so hard she was sure he would leave a mark. Again she moved against his grip, not because she wanted to be free, but more because she wanted him to prevent her from doing so.

The slight sting of pain as he nibbled down her neck was exhilarating. Aloy closed her eyes, relishing in the feeling of his facial hair brushing along the swell of her breast, kissing his way back down to bite down on one of her nipples.

A moan that turned into a whimper left her lips, her back arching up, aching to press her body against his where he held it over her. He ignored this, kissing back up her chest.

“I’m going to let go of your wrists, because I need my hands for… other things,” Erend whispered, his lips suddenly so close to her ear that his mustache tickled the lobe. “That is if you're ready to lie back and behave yourself. Are you?”

Nodding fervently, Aloy practically panted the word “yes”. His hands were everywhere again, his body sliding down hers. She fisted her fingers deep into the sheets to keep herself from ripping his pants off. Not that she could have reached them at that point, while he settled between her bare freckled thighs. All she could see was the top of his mohawk as he kissed the skin somewhere below her naval.

There was little preamble beyond this, suddenly his mouth was on her in the most intimate of kisses, his tongue flitting against her clitoris.

Her mind became a foggy mess of pleasure, face rolling into her own lengthy hair on the pillow, the fantastic tension building within her core. Soon he’d brought his fingers to join his oral ministrations, sliding them inside of her, curling them just right until the tension snapped and Aloy toppled over the edge of sensory oblivion.

—

Erend smiled to himself, as he pulled his face back from the curly red hair that grew between Aloy’s legs. He looked up to her face, but her eyes were closed, her breathing ragged and uneven. The way she’d moaned his name as she’d climaxed echoed in his ears still.

He slid from between her legs, crawling up alongside her, taking in the view of her boneless, satiated. Her eyes fluttered open, finding his as he looked down upon her.

 _I love you._  He thought, as she reached for him, thin fingers sliding through the hair across his chest. He very nearly said it but her lips were back on his, and they melted into one another.

“So,” Aloy breathed between kisses, fingers sliding through his mohawk, and down his neck. “Is it my turn now?”

Erend chuckled. “I did say you’d get a turn,” he murmured. A slight shiver running through him as she was now trailing fingernails down his back, their bare chests rubbing together as they kissed once more.

Aloy laughed against his lips, then she pushed back against him. He let her push him down, shifting himself deeper into the bed as she pressed his shoulders to the mattress.

He expected her to take her time, but her fingers were on the buttons to his pants, popping them one by one. Erend watched her through heavily lidded eyes as she slid them off, tugging them over his ankles and tossing them out of the bed before crawling back up his naked body.

As her mouth finds his, Erend grips her hips, pulling their bodies together, his hard cock pressed between them. She hummed against his lips, placing a hand on his chest, pushing herself up so that she was straddling him.

He’s overcome with how beautiful she is. The way her ginger hair cascaded over her shoulders and down her breasts. The way her lips curl up in a mischievous smirk, setting his blood boiling. His hands were glued to her hips as she lifted them high enough to reach beneath herself.

As she eases down onto him, he moaned her name. Now she took her time, rolling her hips on his slowly, arching her back as he filled her from below.

“I love you.” The words come out as a ragged whisper, his fingers squeezing her hips. He’s frozen after, having not meant to say it in the heat of the moment.

Aloy looked down at him surprised, then laughed. “You damn well better,” she said, rolling her hips up and then down again, her breasts bouncing.

Erend couldn’t think, he could hardly breath, as she struck a speedy rhythm, the bed creaking beneath them as she rode him. It was all he could do to hold himself back from finishing too fast.

He tried to focus on his own breathing, slowing it, he dropped his hands from one of her hips, delicately finding her rhythm to tweak her wet clitoris as it rose and fell along his hard length.

His name echoed through the apartment as she came, head thrown back, hips grinding against his. Erend moaned hers back letting himself go, toppling into orgasmic oblivion with her.

Aloy all but collapsed into his arms as she slid off of him, her breath heavy against his bare chest.

“I love you,” he said again, for now that he’d confessed it once he found he wanted to say it again and again lest she ever forget.

“So you mentioned,” Aloy said, sounding amused.

Silence fell over them, and for a terrifying minute Erend thought he might have spoken too soon, that maybe she wasn’t going to say it back. He was just wondering if he should pretend to fall asleep, spare them both the conversation, when she spoke.

“Relax,” she said, suddenly pushing herself up off of his chest to look down at him. “I love you too.”

“Couldn’t have just said so?” he grunted, pulling her down to kiss him.

“Was more fun this way,” she said, settling back into his arms, pulling the silk covers over them. “Besides, you’ve had my heart since you first kissed me. Do you remember?”

“As if I could forget,” he said.

Aloy drifted off to sleep in his arms, and Erend lied there, remembering.

——

The sky above the Alight was grey and cloudy, casting a palpable shadow over those gathered there. That is until she arrived. Aloy had crested the top of the climb decked out in some flashy electric armor that caught everyone’s eye.

She’d come straight for the Vanguard. A fact that had ignited a warm hope on Erend’s chest. He’d known for weeks that he fancied her, whipping around at the slightest glimpse of red that could be the flame of her hair, hoping she’d return.

Now she had, but in the grimmest of possible circumstances.

Erend knew the battle ahead of them was going to be tough. Saw it in the clench of her jaw as she answered their questions, sensed it in the manner in which she tried to describe the oncoming forces.

Aloy thanked him for being there as if he had a choice. As if his heart would let him be anywhere else but right where she needed him.

“Ersa would be proud,” Aloy said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, eyes darting to his men still standing so close by.

“Only if we win,” he replied.

He couldn’t quite read the expression on her face, as she stared into his eyes after this proclamation. She opened her mouth, seemed to reconsider then looked over the battlement wall to where the Nora were gathered. “I better go and talk to them,” she said. “They’ve come a long way.”

Erend tried not to watch her as she walked away. Or keep checking as she went to speak to the others gathered to defend the Spire. He tried not to be jealous of how long she spent talking to the handsome Nora warrior, with his mop of dreadlocks, and brooding face.

The warrior nodded past Aloy, and on the wind Erend catches what he says.

“Your friend, the Vanguard, keeps looking over.”

His instinct is to snap his eyes away, but he doesn’t. Instead Aloy turns, sees him watching from across the space, and smiles. Erend’s breath caught in his throat as in that instant it was as if time stood still.

Aloy returned to her conversation and Erend drifted back among his men. He knew now was a very inopportune moment to be feeling the way he was, but love was funny like that. It struck out of left field, barreling into lives to change them forever.

Much like Aloy herself.

“Hey Cap, looks like she’s coming back,” one of the men said.

In an instant they’re all looking around and joking among themselves. “I think she likes you.”

“Are you going to kiss her, Captain?”

 _Yes. Yes I am._  Erend thinks, but she’s near enough to possibly have heard them so instead he tells them to shut up as he walks out to meet her.

“I better get back to the city,” she said, tossing her red mane over the blue glowing shoulder guards.

“Here, let me walk you a ways,” Erend said. “You know, just out of earshot.”

Aloy laughed, looking past him to his men, at least one of which had made an indignant noise at this last statement. Then she nodded and ushered for him to walk with her.

They walked with their arms very nearly brushing one another, all the way down the first slope and through the archway. Erend removed his helmet, tucking it under his elbow. They descended the first arc of stairs, then she stopped them on the landing, looking out over the valley and Meridian beyond.

“Did you mean what you said up there?” he found himself asking, turning to face her. “That if we fail, the world falls?”

Aloy turned from the view, bringing her eyes up to his. Her hair blew in the wind from over the valley, a sort of resolve glinting in her eyes. She nodded.

“In that case,” he said, acting before he could second guess himself. He stepped forward, a hand finding her hip atop a coil of rope she had anchored to her belt, pulling her forward.

Erend kissed her right there, on the eve of a battle to save the world, overlooking the city they would be fighting to preserve.

It was messy at first, as he’d clearly startled her, but she didn’t pull away. She slid an arm around his neck, armor bumping together, kissing him back somewhat clumsily. Erend let his helmet clatter to the ground, pulling her into his arms properly for the first time.

Time blurred enough that he wasn’t sure how long they kissed, but when they were done her cheeks were pink and she seemed speechless as she gazed up into his eyes.

“Sorry, I couldn’t risk the world ending tomorrow having not done that,” he said.

Aloy smiled a radiant smile, a delicate hand coming up to his cheek. “Tell you what,” she said, brushing a thumb over his cheek. “Let’s stop the world from ending and then we’ll continue this conversation.”

“Deal.” Erend kissed her again, unable to help himself. He would return to his men a few minutes later, dodge their questions, his heart full of hope beneath the looming shadow of war.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m almost sorry to come back to NtStB after a month with a chapter of no plot and all smut and fluff. 
> 
> Almost.


End file.
